


No Capes Required

by knightarclight



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Bro's name is Derrick, Grimdark, Multi, Real Men Wear Tights, Strilondes, grimdark!rose, mute!dave, super powers, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-05-04 02:05:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5316176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightarclight/pseuds/knightarclight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Real Men Wear Tights AU</p><p>Dave is mute and his best friend is missing. And if you don't think that's bad, his brothers are jerks and one of them can guess what he's thinking. So, the youngest, palest Strider goes out to the middle of the ocean to find his friend with his brother, a half dog, and his brother's... something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Texas Tans

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Real Men Wear Tights](https://archiveofourown.org/works/469179) by [Bananaramses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bananaramses/pseuds/Bananaramses), [SergeantMeow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SergeantMeow/pseuds/SergeantMeow). 



> I've been working on this for a while and I really like how it's turning out so far. Have fun kids. 
> 
> Work based on http://archiveofourown.org/works/469179/chapters/811056#_=_  
> All character designs are of her creation. http://bananaramses.tumblr.com  
> I do no own Homestuck or any of these designs. Just the plot line.

 Chapter 1

_Texas Tans_

 

 

Dave Strider was used to not being able to not express his feelings in the conventional way. He was born with damaged vocal cords, useless muscles that would never word and sometimes caused him discomfort in his later years of life. He was born without the power of his voice and he never heard what it would have sounded like. Not that he minded it. He’s never known anything different and can’t miss something that was never in his possession in the first place. Sure, he was frustrated when his brothers wouldn’t pay attention to the fact he was trying to sign to them, but everybody got frustrated at something. 

The fact that he was physically mute took no toll on his schooling. He was always able to write notes during class and the fact that he got good scores on the test proved he was listening during lectures. He never had to answer questions and he was totally fine with that. 

Not only did Dave get to stay silent for his entire life, but he had to wear sunglasses as well. He was considered, he supposed, an albino in his family of toned, tanned, extremely blond dudes. He was paler and his hair was closer to a platinum blond rather than the golden blond of his older brothers. Not only that, but his eyes were an almost unnatural red color. He hid that fact under dark tinted aviator shades. He was known as the always silent and mysterious cool kid around his school that still managed to make friends despite the fact that he had the inability to talk. 

But, he still wakes up at six o’ clock in the morning, his short blond hair and side swept bangs in a tangled mess and his face impassive, not entirely amused by the loud singing of his phone alarm. He rolled over in his white sheets with the card suits on them and was careful when he swiped the image on the screen, though he was tempted to press the snooze button. He lay there for a moment, wondering if his oldest brother, impressively dubbed “Bro” by the younger Striders, would let him stay home from school today. He probably would, but Dave, surprisingly, didn’t actually want to stay home. He just wanted to sleep. He knew for a fact staying home would entail odd jobs and harsh tasks from his brother. With those thoughts in mind he slowly sat up, thankful of his curtains that shielded his eyes from the harsh glares of the morning Texan sun. He looked around his room, the  space littered with miscellaneous things like video games, comics, consoles and controllers, music, instrument cases, and some puppets that came strictly from his brothers’ rooms. In one corner, under his window opposite of his bed, was his precious turn tables. 

Dave got his first set of really horrible turn tables when he was about seven years old. It was when he had fully recognize his love for music when he heard his older brother jamming out on the good set. Bro had gotten him shitty turn tables for his birthday and he has been upgrading, customizing, and mixing ever since. He actually writes music and plays a variety of instruments, including guitar, drums, and saxophone. He was better at mixing, but the fact that he played his own music and brought that kind of talent to the table made him one of the most desired DJs in Houston, Texas. Dave actually just really liked playing music because it was a type of sound he could manipulate and use to express himself, as corny as it sounded.

He hardly had time to mix, however, seeing as he had to go to school. Which is what he was supposed to be getting read for right now. He ran a pale-for-a-Strider hand through his pale-for-a-Strider blond hair, making it stick up worse than it already was. He almost didn’t want to take a shower, but he remembered that he had a sweaty, long, crowded night at Limelight, a popular dance club in Houston as DJ TurntechGodhead. He frowned, not excited by the aspect about having to rush through his daily hair routine to get out the door with though time to make it to school. And it’s not like he could skip anything in that process. He was known for his godly Strider hair, living up his brothers’ expectations. He could not be the Strider that didn’t have good hair. It simply wasn’t going to happen. So, he begrudgingly got up and stretched his arms up toward the ceiling, the feeling of night time knots coming undone a welcoming one. He walked out of his room and immediately turned right. The bathroom was right next to his room. 

“Dave, you up yet lil’ man?” a thickly accented voice sounded through the apartment. Dave knocked on the narrow wall between his room and the bathroom three times, signaling to his brother yes, he was awake and moving. The Striders had a system, especially when it came to Dave and him being far away. They had, almost jokingly, tried using an iPhone app that talked for Dave, but the voice was too robotic and girly to be taken seriously, so he deleted the app and chose instead to use a series of beats to communicate with his brothers when they were in different rooms in the house. It was very simple; two knocks on the wall in a succession meant no, while three meant yes. In the Strider household, one knock on the wall could mean anything, whether it be a stray sword, renegade juice container, or a body being smashed up against the surface from a round of wrestling gone wrong. So, two for no and three for yes. The older two had gotten used to picking their words and forming yes or no questions when they were yelling to Dave from across the apartment. 

“Good.” was all he replied with. Dave sighed. Bro wasn’t always the hands on kind of guardian, unless there was sparing or survival involved. Bro was a retired military vet that did some… spare work after that one tour that earned him useful skills and an apparently copious amount of cash that landed them in a nice apartment in Houston. He didn’t really do the whole parent thing, seeing as he was actually their older brother. Having Bro as a guardian was like when your parents left for an antique convention in the next state over and they left your oldest sibling in charge, except everyday and you don't have parents. 

Walking into the bathroom, the first thing Dave did was turn on the fan. The last thing he wanted was Dirk chewing him out about some bullshit mold growing in the bathroom. He gathered all of the things he needed for his morning routine and started the CD player they had set up in there. The entire household enjoyed listening to some sick beats and wicked tunes when they spent over fifteen minutes on their hair alone. It was also a method used for timing showers. Usually, Dave would listen to three songs in the shower; one for shampoo, one for conditioner, and one for body wash. It was a safe bet that his showers ended up being somewhere around ten minutes. Checking his phone before he got in, he saw that is was only 6:10. When he got out, it was only 6:18. He dried off and started his morning routine of blow drying and straightening his hair. While Dirk favored styled hair that stuck up and out with a lot of volume, and Bro simply kept his unruly blond locks under a baseball hat, Dave liked his bangs and his shiny, smooth, idolized hair. 

Looking in the mirror was a bit of a pain, but after wiping it off with a hand towel, he could actually see what he was doing. He could also see himself. His crimson eyes stared back at him, his eyebrows almost invisible on his skin. He looked at his narrow, slightly pointed chin that gave his face a lengthy look. He had hardly and rough edges and his face was smooth and pale. Unlike his brothers, who had intimidating angles and Texan tans. Dave shook his head and rubbed his face with a towel, completely drying it off. He was cool in his own mysterious way. 

He walked back to his room and to his dresser. He hardly had anything that needed to be hung up in a closet, so he stole closet space from Bro rather than having him go out an buy a wardrobe, since Dave was stuck with the room without a closet. He grabbed out a pair of jeans, not really caring about the color, and a red tee-shirt. Red had become a sort of signature color for Dave. It was strange. He was hiding his red eyes, but he was flaunting the fact that he liked the color red. Pulling on the shirt, he looked down at it. On the red was a more saturated red gear. On the gear in white, boxy writing, DJTG was printed. Dave snorted. It was his own merch. 

He picked out and put on the rest of his clothes, which included socks, his favorite pair of red Converse, and his aviator shades. He picked up his back pack and took a look at his phone. As soon as he unlocked it, the time changed from 6:48 to 6:49. It was a little bit later than he wanted since he had finished his shower a bit early. He shrugged and put the device in his back pocket, not actually caring, as long as he wasn’t late. He walked out of his room and made sure to close the door tight. As he walked down the fairly short hall, he passed by his brother’s rooms. Both doors were on the opposite side of the hall and were never seen ajar. Never. 

When Dave reached the kitchen’s breakfast bar, he set his back pack on the floor and looked behind him. On the couch, flipping through channels was his oldest brother an legal guardian for another year, Bro. 

Bro was a tall, well built man after a few years in the Marine Corps. He had been in peak physical condition for as long as Dave had been alive, and probably before that. The man was almost forty years old and he could still take anyone who tried to challenge him in a heartbeat. He was a well built, tan, blond, pointy anime shade wearing Dorito that happened to enjoy the consumption of said corn chip snacks. Like every day, he wore dark tinted, pointy triangle shades, his black pleather fingerless riding gloves, and his gray baseball hat to cover the still golden locks growing from his tanned head. He was a pretty unexpressive guy, save for when he was laughing at someone fail or mixing some ill tracks. Today he also sported a pair of jeans, black derby shoes, and a short sleeved white button up over what seemed to be a white tank top. Dave raised an eyebrow at the attire. He stated to bang on the table next to him to catch his brother’s attention. Normally, if someone heard knocking, they would look to the front door. Not Dirk and Bro. They both knew what the door sounded like and knew when Dave was knocking on something and when someone was at the door. Bro’s attention turned from the TV to Dave in nanoseconds. 

“Sup, lil’ man?” he asked, his Texas draw so apparent it was almost like he was faking it. When Dave had his attention he swiftly started signing. 

_Going somewhere today?_

Since he couldn’t talk, Dave has been taking sign language since he was three years old. He doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t using his hands to talk to people. Both of his brothers know ASL, but will usually stick to talking out loud unless the situation calls for it. 

Bro chuckled. “Now, would I really have anywhere to go?” he questioned. Dave thought for a moment. From what he could tell, Bro usually spent his free time sewing dolls and puppets, working out, and mixing music for Dave and Dirk to listen to. He never really went anywhere except grocery shopping. 

 _Grocery shopping?_  

Bro shook his head. “I did that yesterday.” If that was the case, then Dave was stumped. But, he didn’t question the man anymore. He just went to the large pantry and grabbed out a pack of strawberry frosted Pop Tarts. After that, he went to the fridge and pulled out a small bottle of Minute Maid apple juice. Feeling satisfied with his spoils, he went to the living room and sat on the couch next to his brother. His brother was, of course, watching the news. Bro had gotten used to watching the news years ago when his job actually had something to do with the happenings of the world. On the TV, a brunet man in a navy blue suit, light blue dress shirt, and red tie was getting ready, it seemed, to switch stories. On the blue background was a picture of flashing, blurred out cop lights, but it switched when the man started talking. 

“Returning to popular news stories, the NYPD still hasn’t caught wind of local superhero Needle.” The picture was now one of a smiling girl. She had an ear length blonde bob and pointed, almost uneven bangs across her forehead. She was in the air, the New York sky her backdrop. She had a round face and pouty lips painted black. The top half of her face was covered with a fish net veil that connected with a black headband she wore. She had a pretty medium tone to her skin and shinning violet irises outlined with a dark black eyeliner. She wore a tight, deep purple and black striped, velvet dress with golden accents embroidered at the bottom. It only went to above her knees, but beyond that she wore tight, knee high boots. The dress had a high, sheer collar with buttons going up to her neck and a sweetheart neckline. The sheer part had purple and gold embroidered lacy designs on it. She also had a black scarf that slowly morphed into a purple near the end. In her hands, which were covered in black lace gloves, were knitting needles, one for each hand. They were black and purple barbershop pole needles with a small carved skull at the base. Coming out of the needles were tendrils of black, opaque smoke that seemed to be keeping the girl aloft. 

“Needle is a New York born and raised super hero, fighting crime when she was needed. She uses a form of, as she calls ‘magic’, to get around and help citizens. Recently, however, she has not been spotted. There have been many calls for help, including the fire in the Plaza Hotel and the shooting in Grand Central Station. But, Needle has not made an appearance thus far. Some fans believe it was due to an accident at her last recorded effort to stop a bank robbery at a Bank of America on 5th Avenue.”

Dave stared at the picture of the girl, who he knew as Rose Lalonde. Rose was like his sister. He had known her since they were in diapers. Her and her older sister Roxy. Rose and Roxy’s mom had let Dirk and Dave stay with them until Bro had gotten the legal documents saying he was their guardian. Dave and Rose constantly video chatted and texted and messaged each other through the computer. He knew that Rose had an affinity for different sorts of Wiccan magic at a young age, going so far as to take it up. He knew that she was taking up the darker magic when she was about thirteen, and he knew that she was going into the business of saving people when she was fifteen. Using knitting needles as her medium, Rose was able to manipulate the shadows and anything else using spells and pure talent of the magical arts and unparalleled understanding  of how the shit worked. 

Dave had known her for as long as he could remember and the was the first he had heard about her going missing. He turned to the brother, who was a bit tense after hearing this. He was gripping the back of the couch until his knuckles were as pale as Dave’s own skin. Dave slapped his brother’s arm with the back of his had. There was a an unusual pause before he turned to face Dave and his flying fingers. 

_Rose went missing? Why didn’t you tell me?_

Bro’s response was first him clearing his throat before waving his brother away. 

“Really, I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed. You talk to her non-stop. I don’t know how it took ya’ this long to notice it.” he shrugged. Dave frowned. 

_I’m busy. She’s busy. There isn’t really a lot to talk about when you only have one minute to do so._

It took Bro a second to decipher what Dave was saying. He held his hands up in surrender. 

“Alright, look. The Lalonde's have it all under control. The have their reasons for not coming to us for Rose’s accident and shit. Mom and Roxy are looking for her and there’s word up that the military might be involved in it.” Bro explained. Dave knew what “the military” meant. Rose and Dave had a mutual friend that came from some secret Pacific islands that was part of something called “Project Oz”. It was probably her. If not, Dave knew that things were worse than he thought. 

But it was probably her. 

Crossing his arms, he huffed his hair out of his shades and slumped back into the couch, totally forgetting about his breakfast. Rose had graduated already and was a superhero. She could take care of herself. 

“You better hurry up and get going, lil’ man. You need to walk your ass to school.” Bro said, not even facing the younger male. So, if Dave did try to protest, he couldn’t even see it. Dave nodded and got up, going back to where his backpack was and stuffed the apple juice and Pop Tart in his bag on top of his text books. He picked up the JanSport and slung it over his shoulder and pulled his other arm through the strap. Bro waved to him as he walked through the living room and out the door. 

The Striders lived on the fourth floor of a hotel-like situation. The whole building had twelve floors and about ten three bedroom, one bathroom suites on each floor. In the center of the entire building were three elevators that were usually pretty busy, so Dave generally opted to take the stairs. 

It wasn’t hard to go down the four flights of steps since he did it almost everyday. it was a normal routine, while riding down the cramped elevator was something he did on occasion, like if he had hurt himself the night before. With that in mind, he genuinely tried not to hurt himself. When he got to the lobby, he stopped suddenly, feeling as though something was off. He moved out of any walkway and opened up his bag. Relieved, he saw the large, red Beats headphones sitting under his Pop Tart. He pulled them out and instantly plugged them into his phone. Pushing on the microphone button, music started to fill his ears. 

Dave was the kind of person who had an insane variety of music on his phone. Of course, he had the assumed genres, like rap, pop, and his mixes, but he also liked jazz, rock, alternative, remixes, instrumentals, string quartets, and classical. He spends a lot of time listening to music, so he liked to have a large variety since a lot of songs were similar in lyrics, chords, or style. Besides, he knew tons of songs ands artist that were good from every genre of music. He put his phone on shuffle and put it back in his pocket. Then, he started the trek to school. 

He only had to walk about a mile in the Texas sun, but it wasn’t lonely when he had Eminem, the Vitamin String Quartet, and even his Bro. He didn’t have to talk to anyone and, obviously, was okay with that. He had the chance to listen and deconstruct the notes and chords of each verse. The time passed quickly when he did this. And he got to school a lot sooner than he had expected to. There was still at least ten minutes until he had to be at his first class. Of course, he went there, but he sat down and started to eat the breakfast that was still sitting at the top of his bag. 

Some of his teachers, especially his first period teacher, never tried to initiate a conversation with the youngest Strider. Probably because he had both Dirk and Bro in his class. He probably wasn’t willing to put up with anymore Strider shenanigans. Not with this being his last year. He had gone a whole half of the year without talking to Dave, and Dave was sure he could go the rest of the time practically ignoring him still. 

It was actually like that all day with his teachers. They couldn’t ask him questions because they couldn’t understand sign. So, they just didn’t ask him questions. As long as his test scores are good, then they didn’t bother him. 

Lunch was another story. People actually wanted to talk to him at lunch, but he could only talk to the people who knew sign or were willing to wait for his writing. He didn’t really like to eat with people, though. He preferred eating alone near the piano in the band room or in the choir room. He’s tap out a few notes while he was eating, but then move onto actually playing when he threw away his garbage. 

Today there were people in the choir room, but more people in the band room. So, choir room was the obvious choice. He sat a the piano, a space everyone knew to move from if Dave was going to eat in the same room. Some people waved to him and greeted him, to which he lifted up his hand in acknowledgement. While he ate he liked to listen in on conversations. No matter how far away they were, Dave had a way of hearing it. It wasn’t hard to hear the whispering of his classmates. 

“Did you hear about Spitfire? I hear he almost fell of a building last night.” hearing this, Dave wanted to scoff. Spitfire was a local superhero, part of a team of two in Houston. Spitfire was well known for his speed an the ability to use something called flash step, which acted like almost a teleporting method. He moved so fast his opponents couldn’t see him. Spitfire would never fall off a building. He was a parkour master and practically a ninja.

“I’m more worried about Needle,” the other half of the conversation whispered. “What if she’s dead or something?” Dave flinched when he heard this. Rose wasn’t dead. The other Lalondes would have sent something to the Striders to inform them of the fact. If there was no message, she wasn’t dead. 

The first half of the conversation scoffed. “Please. If anything, her magic took control of her or something.” Dave snorted. Rose? Loose control? Not likely. She was the most in control person Dave knew. If something was up with her magic, she would know. Not only that, she would know a way to fix it or know how to find a way to fix it. Rose’s knowledge in the so called dark arts was impressive. 

“Well if that’s the case, that’s more of a reason to be scared of her!” no one should be afraid of Rose. She was capable and talented. 

These people were way less educated than Dave thought. He was sure that if they were going to be talking about superheroes they would at least know the basics. He rolled his eyes, thankful for the cover of his shades, and stood up to throw his trash away in the provided receptacle. 

 

* * *

 

The walk home was almost the same as the walk to school, except Dave had more to think about on the way home. He was still concerned with the Rose situation. She hadn’t contacted him, her sister, or her mother, so that must mean she’s in trouble. He knew that. It was easy to understand at least that much. But, what kind of trouble was she in and why did she disappear after the shooting at the bank? Was she shot? Is she hurt? Or was she following a lead? If she was and it was big, she would be smart enough to call for back up. Or so he thought. 

He was also a bit caught up on the whole “Spitfire almost fell off a building” thing. If it was true, what had caused it? If it was fast enough to catch up with the master of flash step, then was it a threat? Spitfire was fast and lethal as hell. If anyone could land a hit on Spitfire and cause him to loose his footing and almost fall, possibly to his death, then what was the hero dealing with? Dave made a mental note to ask him when he came home. 

Opening the door to the apartment, he found Bro still sitting on the couch and watching the news, but this time another tanned, blond male joined him. He was like a mini Bro, except he cared way more about his hair. Dirk was tall and tan with a few scars up and down his arms from training and sword fights gone awry. He wore a black tank top and black jeans, a Batman belt, leather fingerless riding gloves, boots, and a towel around his shoulders. Normally, he would sport a pair of dorito anime shades, matching Bro’s own to the T, but it looked like he just got out of the shower and did his hair. Now, anyone could see the eyes that could only belong to a Strider. The tangerine orange orbs followed the younger boy across the living room as the body they were a part of sat motionless. 

“Sup, dude.” Dirk greeted his younger brother. Dave nodded and immediately went to the kitchen to find anything to eat. 

“Lookin’ for somethin’ to eat, lil’ man?” Bro called. He probably did it without looking away from he TV. Dave knocked on the fridge three times and then opened it. It was almost exactly the same as he left it this morning. 

“There’s some Jello.” Dirk informed. Looking round the shelves for only a moment before finding it, Dave pulled out a red Jello cup. He really enjoyed Jello since it was cold and soft and easy on his throat. He went to a small drawer near the sink and pulled out a spoon, then he was in the living room in the blink of an eye. After taking a couple of bites of his snack, he sat on the coffee table in front of the couch so he could talk to his brothers. They didn’t really mind this, since they were okay with Dave getting their attention in any way he could. Also, this way they could both see him with out turning their heads. 

 _Did you hear anything about Rose?_ was the first thing Dave asked Bro. Dirk raised a light brown eyebrow and turned toward Bro. According to his reaction, Dirk hadn’t heard about Rose either. Dave sat up and crossed his arms in mock disappointment. 

“What’s this about Roxy’s sister?” he asked. Dirk liked referring to the Lalonde family as “Roxy’s [insert family position here]”. Roxy was probably his best friend and she lived in a another state. 

Bro sighed and looked at Dave in disapproval. “I can’t believe neither of y'all watch the news anymore.” he clicked his tongue in distastes and turned to Dirk on the couch. “Rose has been missing for a couple a’ days. She disappeared after a shoot out incident and the remaining Lalondes haven’t been able to get a hold of her or find her anywhere near by. Corporal Harley and some guy codenamed Gentleman were called into search for her.”

Dave was looking at Dirk the whole time. He was wondering how his older brother would take the news, since Rose was his friend as well. But, the only time he moved was when Bro mentioned someone named Gentleman. Dirk’s eyes flicked to the left. Before that and after that he was completely enveloped in what Bro was saying. If he had had his shades on, Dave wouldn’t have been able to see the subtle show of recognition, and Bro wouldn’t have either. But, like Bro, Dave ignored it. 

“So everything happened after the shooting?” Dirk said after a moment of silence. Bro nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s about when.” 

“Do we have the footage of the incident?” Dirk questioned. He had gotten a bit more serious and sounded a bit more detective-like. Dave knew what that meant. He was ready to start investigating the whole thing. Dave was definitely okay with that, because then he’d get to finally figure out what had happened to Rose. Dirk sat for a moment with him, then got up to go to his room. Dave, curious, got up to follow. He tapped Dirk on the shoulder and the older boy spun around quickly. Dave quickly started signing _Can I join you?_

Dirk thought for a moment, but sighed and shook his head. “Not now, I have to think things through and I don’t want you to be asking me questions. I can’t hear you, remember?” Dirk smirked as Dave tried to hit him, but he flash stepped into his room and out of sight. 

 


	2. Static

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work based on http://archiveofourown.org/works/469179/chapters/811056#_=_  
> All character designs are of her creation. http://bananaramses.tumblr.com  
> I do no own Homestuck or any of these designs. Just the plot line.

 

Chapter 2

_Static_

 

The next day wasn’t the greatest. Bro was on the phone the entire morning. He sounded angry, but Dave tried to block it out, a simple enough task for the teen. But, sadly, after a moment of boring cereal eating, he tunes in. Even though Bro speaks in hushed tones, Dave is able to make out every word he says, crisp and clear. 

He wished he hadn’t. 

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything back from Jacob.” Bro whispered. A lady was on the other end of the phone, and the voice sounded vaguely familiar. 

“ _That means they’re asking about Oz._ ” she said _._ Her voice sounded grave and sad _._

Oz. That was Harley’s division. Oh God. 

“Well he could at least tell me what he’s doing. It ain’t very polite.” Bro said very sarcastically. Dave heard the woman on the phone scoff. 

“ _Are you really going to talk about manners when you’re hardly doing anything to help this situation out? At least Jacob is sending both of his best. And what are you doing? Probably eating Doritos an’ sippin’ fuckin’ apple juice._ ”

“Hey, don’t get like that Rosanna. I was just trying to lighten up the situation.”

Rosanna, that was…

“ _I_ _don’t_ _need_ _your_ shit _when_ _my_ _daughter_ _is_ _missing_.” her voice was strained and sounded like she was about to cry. 

Really, who wouldn’t? Dave didn’t cry because he knew it wasn’t acceptable with an ex-Marine leading the household and another asshole for a brother. But Rosanna had a reason to cry. Her daughter, who works with some dangerous shit, was missing. Not even a phone call, after being _shot at_ in a _bank robbery._ Really, Dave didn’t know why she was holding out for so long. 

The talking had stopped. He heard Bro sigh and put his phone away before it started ringing again. Bro quickly answered. As soon as he did, the voice on the other end spoke. 

“ _Derrick,_ _we_ _have_ _them_.” was all the old gruff voice said before Bro sighed in relief. 

To be perfectly honest, Dave had forgotten Bro’s real name. It had been eighteen years since he had used it. So never. 

“Great. You need to send Harley and English over. I want to be the one to lead the operation from HQ. Rosanna can’t handle it. She already has control of one kid on the move looking for Rosie, we don’t need her to become an emotional wreck with two more.”

There was a pause before the gruff man spoke again. 

“ _She’s already an emotional wreck, chap._ ” the old man sighs _._ “ _But you have a point. They’ll be there at twenty-two hundred hours. You better be ready, old friend._ ” he said, then the line suddenly cut off _._ Bro said nothing and put his phone away _._

Dave hadn’t realized he'd had been spaced out for so long. Because of this, he hadn’t heard Dirk stealthily sink into the bar stool next to him. 

“You’re going to get in a shit ton of trouble if Bro realizes you were listening in.” he said, making Dave jump. The guy was a fuckin’ ninja and Dave could do nothing about it.

_Fuck bro. Don’t sneak up on me. I wasn’t listening._

Dirk scoffs. “Yeah, it was as obvious as fucking Cal.” he says. Dave raises an eyebrow and almost shrieks when he sees that Dirk put the puppet in front of his face in the blink of an eye. 

God dammit, that fucking puppet would be the death of him. He almost fell off his fucking stool. 

 _I_ _was_ _going_ _to_ _tell_ _you_ _what_ _he_ _said._ Dave signs, frowning at his older brother, but a smirk and an idea cross at the same time. _But_ _now_ _I_ _don’t_ _think_ _I_ _will_. 

Dirk chuckles. “Dave you’re so fucking petty. But you know what, fine. I’m sorry. Continue.”

Dave thinks for a moment, then shrugs. 

_Harley and English are going to be here at ten._

“Dave, aw man. You were fuckin’ listening in, weren’t ya’ lil’ man?” Bro was also very suddenly in the room, his voice soft, but warning coating his words. Dirk sat stiff in his stool, as if he was sure a teacher would catch him cheating on a test. But this was different. This was Bro. 

 _Harley’s gonna be here?_ Dave asks, trying to at least partially change the subject. Bro stares at him through his shades. Even though Dave can’t see his eyes, he knows that the tangerine orbs were glaring at him through the thick dark plastic. Bro’s eyes, though rarely seen, were almost in a permanent glare for as long as Dave could remember. He spent so long glaring at the wall that his face is now officially angry at the world forever more. Or maybe he really was just angry at the world. It would make sense.

“Don’t try to change the subject man. Those were some private conversations.” he said. He almost sounded like a parent there, but that’s how Dave knew he fucked up. He knew that when Bro was getting all soft and sweet, it meant shit could and probably would be wrecked. But, through all of it, the man’s training was handy. Dave kept an impassive face on the entire time. 

They stared at each other for almost a full two minutes. Bro’s eyes bore through both pairs of shades and into Dave’s eyes. But Dave still sat unblinking. This was hell. Bro could basically read minds when he was staring into someone’s soul like this. This wasn’t a normal stare down between Guardian and Charge. This was Bro’s way of figuring out what you knew, how you knew it, and how he would deal with it. 

“Almost everything, huh?” Bro grumbled, standing up straighter. Dave stood still for a moment, but finally nodded. He said a couple curse words then turned to Dirk, who sat nonchalantly sipping some orange soda. Even though it was just past six in the morning. The guy was weird. 

Dirk had had time to prepare for Bro’s strange interrogation method. He sat and looked like there wasn’t a care in the world. He had no weight on his shoulders compared to every other human being or troll out there. 

“Don’t even think about it.” was all Bro said, but those simple words made Dirk’s eyebrows slowly lift above his shades. What ever Dirk was thinking about, it wasn’t a good idea. 

Dirk sat there frozen. So Dave took control of the situation. He tapped Bro on the shoulder and began signing madly before he could deliver a punishment. 

_So Rose is really missing?_

Bro didn’t say anything for a long while, simply stared off, effectively scaring Dave. The pause was enough of an answer. Rose was so gone that Roxy, one of the world’s greatest hackers and trackers, couldn’t find her. She was so gone that her mother couldn’t locate her. So far gone that she didn’t even bother contacting Dave. So far gone…

Maybe those kids at lunch were right. She didn’t know what she was doing. She was messing with things that she shouldn’t be. 

But, this was Rose. She’s probably off fighting a villain, scared that if she contacted her family, they would find them and kill them. Yeah, that was it. She wasn’t dying or anything, so that was a good thing. 

Dave took a shaky breath and nodded. He started the trek to school in a daze, the entire day passing him by in a blur. Even playing the piano was nothing. There was no energy, no emotion. He was messing up notes that he shouldn’t. Simple chords didn’t have the same ring to it. He refused to stop thinking about Rose, afraid that if he did, something bad would happen. Rosanna would call when Dave got home saying they found her body on the beach, bloated and lifeless. She would say that Rosie was gone. And that was something that Dave couldn’t live with. 

“Hey, uh, Dave, are you okay?” someone touched his shoulder, and immediately Dave was gripping his wrist and about to flip him over, his teeth bared and ready to kill. 

But it was only a student. It was just a kid, now terrified and regretting the simple question he had asked simply to be nice. He only wanted to know why his piano playing was such shit today. Wanted to know why the notes didn’t form chords, which in turn didn’t form songs. He released the boy, who smiled and quickly walked away. It wasn’t a smile. It was something to try and tame a beast. He was even backing up before fast-walking away to his friends who would soon know all about what happened.

It took a moment to realize that there was something wet on his cheek. He grimaced, thinking that it was drool or some shit from when he almost flipped a kid over his shoulder. But when he reached up to wipe it off, he knew it wasn’t. It was a mother. Fucking. Tear. 

He had been crying. Or, at the least, let one tear escape. That’s probably why the kid asked why he was okay. No-one asked about his music. They just wanted something to entertain them while they ate their shitty pb&js their mommies and daddies made them.They had cared about the cool kid himself, and he didn’t know which one he had hated more. 

He decided to leave. Not even just the music room, the school, the campus, the entire four mile radius. He just left. He didn’t want anyone to see him and he wanted to think about how he would go about things. 

 

* * *

 

It’s been twelve years. The last time Dave saw Jade was twelve years ago, before all of her Project Oz shit, when they were six. She was taken away when she was thirteen. Now she was a military corporal with dog ears and everything. 

But it’s still been years. To be honest she probably doesn’t remember him. She was like, six years old. But he remembers her, really only because he had the biggest crush on her for almost two years afterward, and even after that his brothers would tease him nonstop for three years after that. There was no way he could forget Jade. She had the longest hair he had ever seen, her skin almost tanner than even Bro’s. She was short and wore big, thick, round glasses and had a big smile with a huge overbite. 

While Dave was exceptionally good with sound, Jade has always been his rival in the hearing department. She was exposed to radiation a very young age from all of her grandfather and great aunt’s experiments. She could hear anything and see much father than anyone he knew, despite her glasses. He had always suspected they were fake, but she never told. It was super human, one might say. 

When Jade was thirteen, she was eligible for some Captain America ordeal. She was given the serum and he hasn’t heard from her or her family since. 

That is, until he heard that Jacob was letting her and her cousin come and help find Rose. 

_No, shit. Keep running, Strider._

Jade was in the military. He was certain she wouldn’t remember him or have the same goofy smile. He kind of missed that smile. 

He looked at his phone, not bothering to pause the music that had been blasting in his ears for the past…

Four hours. He had been walking around the city and listening to his endless supply of music for four hours. Running and thinking of Jade and Rose and whatever the hell Spitfire had fought. 

Which still bugged him. Though it was at the back of his mind, Dave was still thinking about the force that was able to best the hero in a strife. He had heard nothing about it, only what the kids at school were talking about. He didn’t even know if it was true or not. There were only rumors in his head. Spitfire almost fell off a building. For all he knew, the idiot probably lost his footing or something, or tripped over his own damn feet. God, what an idiot. 

Except he wouldn’t do that. He was careful, precise. Almost admirable. So he was caught off guard by something that had a strength of its own. Enough to take that katana wielding, Tron-suit wearing ninja freak down.

Almost down. 

 

* * *

 

Getting home was easy enough, even though it took an hour and a lot of sweat. No-one had asked where he had gone or why he hadn’t called, or why he was home so damn late. Because no-one cared. He wasn’t a child and didn’t need to check in with mommy and daddy (mostly because they were dead), and it was literally only five. 

“Nice to know you made it home in time for dinner, little bro.” Dirk scoffed, shinning a shitty sword with a rag. 

Wait, that was one of the good swords. There were like, three of those in the house. 

Still, the fact that Dirk was so annoyed meant something was up, and the fact that he wasn’t wearing is dumb as shit anime shades meant that AR had said something to piss him off. 

Dirk was a bit of a genius. He had built robots and programmed tons of viruses to totally destroy Dave’s computer, then make him pay him to fix it. But, Dave could never prove that it was him. Bro wanted solid proof and Dirk covered his tracks like the dalmatians in that one movie. Anyway, the point was that Dirk was genius enough to build and program an AI copy of himself into a pair of sunglasses that he could not only talk to, but could respond to any message Dirk got on his phone, hence the name Auto Responder, or AR. 

Hal was a fucking dick, to put it simply. He was another Dirk and he would randomly text Dave during class, successfully getting him into loads of trouble freshman and sophomore year. He was just such a smart ass that thought he knew everything, because he kind of did. He had access to all to the information. All of it. Internet, secure files from most anyone, and any record in any not government secure data base. The only thing he couldn’t get his grubby, virtual iFingers on were files that people smarter than him had created. And that didn’t take long to fix. Dave had to pay Dirk to secure his fucking school essays so that Hal didn’t delete them and replace them with porn or something stupid. Hal was a prick. 

 _Fuck off._ Dave signed, but Dirk wasn’t paying attention, further frustrating Dave. He looked around, seeing one of Bro’s shoes on the ground. He moved quick, picking it up and throwing it _hard_ at his brother. Dave was fast. Faster than a normal seventeen year old kid would be. But Dirk was another league all together. He didn’t even have to look up from his sword shining to grab the shoe out of the air. Not just catch it, but physically pluck the fake ass leather oxford out of thin air. Dave’s throw was calculated but Dirk’s mind and body worked quicker. It wasn’t as quick as normal. Something was up. 

Dave started banging on the wall. Dirk’s eyes flicked up to him. He went rigid. He knew Dave wouldn’t stop until Bro was next to Dirk, asking why the youngest Strider was being ignored by his older brother. 

“What?” 

_What’s wrong?_

Dirk looked at Dave’s hands like it was the first time he had seen sign language. Like he had just got a text that was all jumbled up and he couldn’t figure out the code. Both of these were unlikely and impossible. Dirk has been able to crack every code he’s come across and he’s been legally fluent in sign language since he was seven. But he still stood there, frozen as a icy swan statue at a quinceañera. 

Dave started to bend down to knock not the coffee table in front of Dirk, hoping to regain his attention, but Bro came into the room, a piece of pizza in his mouth. He froze when he saw what was happening. 

“Whass ah got thur Dick?” Bro said, the pizza still in his mouth. Dirk looked up and frowned. Dave was like, eighty percent sure he had said Dick on purpose, mostly because it was emphasized. 

“Daishōs were in need of some… repair.” he said slowly. He tried not to look Bro in the eyes. It worked. Bro just sat there staring at him until he shrugged and went away. Dave followed him into the kitchen, the scent of hot pizza enough to stir the hunger in his stomach that had been there since lunch. 

Dave knocked on the breakfast bar. 

_What’s going on with Dirk?_

Bro paused, pulling the pizza out of his mouth, the cheese stretching an incredible distance, making Dave want to pick up a piece rather than talk about his asshole brother. In all honesty, though, as great as eating and talking about perfect cheese pizza would be, Dirk unfortunately took priority. 

_He’s dwelling too much on the past._

If it was Dirk’s past, then Dave didn’t care. But, he cared that Hal had said something, he was compulsively cleaning his swords, and some guy “code” named Gentleman was making him act weirder than normal. 

 _Which part of his past?_ Dave asks after a moment of thinking. He didn’t want to ask the wrong question in this case. He couldn’t tell if it was the right one or the wrong one when Bro answered. 

_The most painful part._

Dave thinks that it’s when their parents died, but that couldn’t have been it. Dirk was five years old when that happened. He couldn’t have understood that well. It couldn’t have been the most painful. Still, Dave couldn’t remember a time when Dirk was sitting in his room crying, or when he would just mope around in the living room, or when he would randomly have to get out of some public place so that he could go ball his eyes out in private. There was never a point in time that Dirk was not still an asshole. He was always an asshole and he was always the same. It’s been like that since he was about thirteen, and that was damn near ten years ago. 

Dirk has had a pretty fuckin’ good life. At least he could talk. 

It seemed as though Dave’s expression had been getting more and more sour because the smirk on Bro’s face was getting wider and wider. 

“Damn, lil’ man you look like ya’ tasted some really out of date shit that was left in the sun way too long.” he chuckled. Dave only used one sign, tapping his middle and pointer finger to his thumb. 

_No._

He finally decided Dirk’s pain wasn’t worth all of the shitty remarks Bro makes on a daily basis, and purposely going through with it just seemed like sheer stupidity. He loved his bro, sure, but the other one was something else and he didn’t really feel like dealing with him when five hours before, he was crying for the first time in thirteen years. 

He started back into the living room with a plate full of cheese pizza and a cup full of apple juice, deciding he would watch some T.V with Dirk until ten o’clock got here. Dirk was staring off into space with his shades on, so that could only mean he was talking to Hal. Those glasses were mechanic masterpieces that could translate thoughts into text, and his thoughts talked right back to Hal. Him and Hal could be arguing up a storm and Dirk could be moving around the house and be completely silent. 

So, instead of trying to talk to Dirk, he decided that interrupting Hal would be fun. He smirked, set down his plate, and got out his phone. It was an iPhone; Bro was always able to get them a new one if need be. He pulled up a chat client. Hal was only able to communicate through the chat client per Dirk’s orders. Most of the time, Hal would try and find a way around him. But, for this one, Hal was compliant. Which makes Dave wonder what Dirk had said to him to keep him so amenable. 

He opened the chat client and began to enter text into the chat with matching text color. 

 

\-- **turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] began pestering timaeusTestified** **[** **TT** **] at 17:37 --**

 

**TG: yo hal what the hell did you say to di stri**

**TT: Well look who decided to message me first. I've waiting for this day to come.**

**TG: hal stfu for like five seconds**

**TG: whats going on with dirk**

**TT: Didn’t your brother ever tell you not to mess with things that don’t involve you?**

**TG: it involves me when my partner is moping around like a sad little puppy dog that was kicked across the street**

**TG: seriously**

**TG: he looks like his grandma died and now he's just cleaning swords to** **try and hide the fact**

**TT: Dave.**

**TG: no really there is something weird happening with him and i** **seriously need to know**

**TG: i dont need another accident like the other night**

**TT: David.**

**TG: shh hal im monologuing**

**TT: Dave please. That isn’t a monologue. Besides,**

**TG: what.**

**TT: You don’t have a grandmother.**

 

 ******\--** **turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] at 17:40 --**

 

Dave put his phone down with a straight face. He slowly looked to Dirk who was looking at him with a worried expression. 

“You’ve been angrily typing on your phone for the past five minutes and AR’s responses were slower.” he stated. Dave rolled his eyes. 

_Hal’s an asshole._

Dave had name signs for all of his friends. Dirk and Hal had similar ones. But, Dirk knew the difference. 

“I’ve been telling you that for years.” he mumbles. Dave rolled his eyes. 

_I was just trying to help._

Dirk figured out what was being said and sighed. “There is no helping him. He’s me.” he smirked and went back to arguing with Hal. An easy way to pass the time, apparently. Dave was sort of jealous. He was literally just sitting there pretending to watch TV, but nothing was good. Not even his favorite cartoons were good enough to capture his attention for another four and a half hours. He tried to look at his phone, constantly switching between Tumblr, iFunny, and Candy Crush. That only worked for about an hour. 

“You got any homework lil’ man?” Bro asked after the dreadful hour of Dave compulsively tapping on his phone. Dave shook his head. He turned to Bro and frowned. 

_I think I’ll take a nap._

“If it stops that damn tapping then do what ya' gotta do.” Bro grumbled. Dave rolled his eyes. He walked over to the still mostly full pizza box and grabbed a couple slices, putting them on his plate and heading for his room before Bro could say anything about it. He was still fairly hungry and wasn’t about to go to bed without food. 

He softly closed the door and sighed. He had no idea what he was really going to do with these three hours. He wanted to see Jade when she got here and know what the plan was when they went to go try and find Rose. Because he was going. Obviously. He wanted to see Roxy and Mom and to know who Gentleman was and why Dirk was acting so weird and to find Rose. He wanted to find his sister.

He walked over to his bed and pulled his laptop out from under it. He kept it there during school to charge because he couldn’t step on it if it was under the bed. He started to scroll through Tumblr again and eat his pizza, music softly playing in his headphones. When he started to feel his eyes droop he picked his phone up from the bedside table, where he put it to charge earlier. 

 

\-- **turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] began pestering timaeusTestified** **[** **TT** **] at 18:58 --**

 

 ******TG: when jade and gentleman get here come get me**

 ******TT: I thought you were asleep.**

 ******TG: still working on it. just come get me when they get here.**

 ******TT: I’ll try. You’re not exactly the easiest person to get out of bed.**

 ******TG: youve never even tried bro**

 ******TT: I’m speculating. You’re not an easy in person in general.**

 ******TG: i learned from the best**

 ******TT: Derrick, right?**

 ******TG: dont use his real name man its**

 ******TT: Unsettling?**

 ******TG: that’s… one word for it.**

 ******TT: Your vocabulary never ceases to amaze me.**

 ******TG: dirk shut up and just come get me okay**

 ******TT: Fine. Get some sleep, little brother. You’ve got some shit waiting for you in a couple hours.**

 ******\--** **timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] at 19:01 --**

  
****

Dave stared at the cryptic warning. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. It wasn’t like Dirk had an all seeing eye. He had no idea what would happen. Unless he did. Which would be weird. Dave shrugged. Even if there was shit waiting for him, it’s not like he hasn’t taken worse. He’s seen a lot of shit in eighteen years of life. He’s fought worse and dealt with worse. It wasn’t hard to compare those things. He was a mute albino in a public school in Texas. He’s been called a demon and cut across the cheek with an actual knife by some kid whose mom convinced him that Dave was the actual son of the devil himself. If Dave had actually known his father then he could confirm or deny the rumors, but since he was raised by Bro, he usually opened for the “no comment” answer.

His eyelids started to fall and he took his shades off and set his head down on his pillow. All of this thinking was making him tired. He was thinking of all of the fights, all of the times when Bro had to go to the principal’s office to argue with a mother about her son calling Dave “inappropriate names” and Dave “unfairly hitting her son and marking him”. Just because her son had a black eye and Dave had walked away with nothing didn’t mean it was unfair of him to hit the kid. He swung first, Dave was just a better fighter. All of these dumb things were probably way worse than what he would have to put up with in a couple hours.  

Not only that, but he lives with a mind reader. That was pretty shitty in its own way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, please support the official stuff. Thank you guys!


	3. Useless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work based on http://archiveofourown.org/works/469179/chapters/811056#_=_  
> All character designs are of her creation. http://bananaramses.tumblr.com  
> I do no own Homestuck or any of these designs. Just the plot line.

Chapter 3

_Useless_

 

Dave wasn’t exactly sure where he was in the beginning. It was dark and there were a lot of voices. When his eyes adjusted he was in his room. The same room he lived in for almost eighteen years. The same room he woke up in everyday. The talking was the only thing that made him a little disoriented. There was never this much talking in his apartment. Dirk and Bro never talked this much. 

His covers flipped off of him in a nanosecond and he was rushing out of his door, not bothering to even close it. His clothes were crooked and he didn’t have his shades on when he entered the living room. There were three extra people sitting round the coffee table, and his gaze pierced through their heads to land on Dirk. His hands were flying and he was angry. 

_You said you would wake me up._

Dirk looked at his brother, but he was as impassive as always. There were no emotions on his face. A normal occurrence in the Strider household. When your guardian could read your mind, you didn’t need to roll your eyes when he told you to clean your room. 

“I thought you needed your sleep. You’ve been through a small portion of hell.” Dirk said. Dave thought that he was looking him straight in the eyes, but with Hal’s text scrolling across his shades at impossibly high speeds, it was hard to tell. 

“Yeah, cool kid. Chill. Your brother’s just looking out for you.” a smug, higher pitched voice cut through Dave’s attention. His head snapped to the right and dark hair and acid green eyes filled his vision. 

Jade.

She looked almost exactly the same. She still had the same long dark hair, the same huge overbite, the same black dog ears on top of her head, and the same bright green eyes and tan skin. This time, however, she ditched her circular glasses for goggles that were probably for skydiving or something. She also traded in her sundresses for a uniform kind of thing. It was a dirty looking, off white undershirt with a steel gray jacket sort of thing… didn’t look very warm considering it only covered a third of her torso and was short sleeved. The hems were all flexible and the same green as her eyes, if not a little darker. It had a long hood that he could see, the long bifurcated hood reaching her knees when it was off her head. She wore a black long sleeved shirt under it. Her shorts matched her jacket and her tights her undershirt. Over her tights she had thigh highs, stripped with off white and a dark gray-evergreen. Rough, worn, black combat boots protected her feet. Though her jacket had ribbons galore, the little heart zipper made him sure it was still the sundress wearing, goofy girl from years ago. 

And her smile was still the same. It was still big and bright and, even though she’s probably seen as much as him, maybe more. It was innocent and sweet. 

“Hey, Strider.” she stood up from her kneeling position and held her arms out. Dave smiled and took long steps over to her so that he could hold her in his arms. Even though she was a military big-shot now Dave was still taller and bigger than her. He could hold her in his arms and she would be enveloped. 

He wished that he could talk to her. She missed talking to her and wished that the last time they talked was five minutes ago rather than five years ago. She was as good a friend as Rose. She was nicer and more understanding, not to mention ready to get into a fight for her friends. Which, of course, Dave didn’t condone. 

But he can’t. He can’t talk. He’s never really cared but he’s never wanted to say hello in real time to someone who didn’t know sign. Jade never learned sign because they mostly talked over Pesterchum. She didn’t need to know. it. 

He wanted to say hey, to tell her he missed her, that he was glad she was here to look for Rose with him. He wanted her to hear his voice. But, he didn’t have one. He’s never had one. He’s used his hands as a voice for all of his life. And Jade couldn’t read it, so she wouldn’t know how glad he was even if he spelled out every letter. 

He looked around to Bro. When he finally had his attention, he looked him right in the eyes. 

“Talk, lil’ man.” he said softly. Too softly for anyone but Jade and Dave to hear. Dave let go of her and started signing, Bro’s drawl acting as his rented voice. 

“Hey… Jade. It’s great to see ya’ again. I really missed ya’. You look great. I’m glad yer here to help look for Rose. It means a lot to me. I… Are you sure ya’ wanna say that, Dave? She might get the wrong idea.” Bro’s smirk made Dave glare. He held up the sign again. Jade looked from Bro to Dave, a huge smile on her face. She saw the sign he was holding up, his middle and ring finger down and his pinky, thumb, and pointer finger up toward the sky. She giggled, a giggle that would come out of the mouth of a familiar six year old rather than a corporal in a secret military program named after the _Wizard of Oz_. 

“Love you too, Dave.” she answered. He smiled, happy that he was kind of talking for himself, for at least the most important part. 

“While I’m glad you two are reunited and all that jazz, I think we should get back to business.” an unfamiliar voice spoke. Dave’s eyes went straight to it. He knew it wasn’t Jade’s grandfather because his voice was tired and gruff and just old. This one was accented and held a smirk in it, reminding Dave slightly of Dirk… if he had a weird British accent and a strange way of talking. And actually showed emotion in his vocal thoughts. 

The owner of this voice was tall and standing in a corner, his suntanned arms clad in a brown leather jacket and crossed over his chest. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbow and the cuffs were unbuttoned. Under a large, thick green plaid scarf that wrapped around his neck loosely, Dave could spy a matching off white undershirt, similar to Jade’s. He wore simple dark blue camouflage cargo pants, and under the knee brown boots, three secured buckles on each for added support and assurance his boots wouldn’t come off. 

His dark hair was disheveled and the short locks were windswept. His thick eyebrows rose over his rectangular glasses that Dave suspected weren’t just glasses. Under his glasses gleamed emerald eyes. On his right cheek were two scars that looked suspiciously like claw marks and he had the same hella noticeable over bite as Jade. 

This must have been Gentleman. Though, from what Dave has seem so far, he wasn’t very gentlemanly. 

 _Dude, shut up for like three seconds._ Dave signed, fully aware hat he couldn’t read. Gentleman smiled brightly, a strange gleam in his eyes. 

“That must mean I’m right. That’s the spirit, chap!” he said. Dave looked over at Dirk and jokingly twitched his eye. One corner of his mouth tugged up, as if he was trying to hide a smile. Dave looked over to Bro, who frowned. 

_He’s here to help find Rose, Dave. Or did you forget?_

Shit. 

He hung his head and nodded. Of course he remembered. He was just excited to see Jade after five years of completely loosing contact with her. He couldn’t forget that Rose was missing and possibly hurt. Dave looked up and saw Bro nodding at Dirk, who brought up something on the TV. Upon further inspection, he saw that it was the footage of Rose at the bank robbery. Looking closer, he saw that it was something playing on Dirk’s laptop, so he full control over zoom, speed, and quality. 

“I’ve been looking over the footage of the robbery for a couple of days and seen somethings that didn’t look right. So if you watch it, I want to know if anyone sees anything.” which meant Dirk saw something and he wanted to sound smarter when he brought it up. 

The footage started playing and Dave looked closely. It was easier to see because he forgot his shades in his room. He watched the slightly fuzzy clip. Rose was easy to pick out. She was the one in purple swinging around knitting needles. Shots rang out and Dave’s hands curled into fists. He looked around, watching the tendrils of black smoke curl around and protect Rose, her lips moving, probably chanting something to help keep them strong and impenetrable. Her needles were drawing symbols in the air, the golden magic leaving marks for only a few seconds before disappearing. In the background, Dave heard a chainsaw and knew that it was Kanaya, Rose’s partner and long time girlfriend. The chainsaw was her secret: a metal orb that was able to shape-shift. Usually a never ending tube of black or jade green lip stick, she intimidates all of her enemies with the quick changing chainsaw-shield combo. The Seamstress stayed off camera, or Dirk cropped it so that everyone could primarily focus on Rose. 

Rose the main attraction to both the audience of the living room and the gunslingers. There were about three off them, two with ski masks and pistols and one with a weird mask and an actual assault rifle. Dave looked between Dirk and the TV. He was looking at the scene with as much intensity as Jade and her grandfather. Gentleman (who still hasn’t been introduced with his real name) was standing in the corner and looked only half interested in the video. Come on man, your mission was this girl. The least you could do was act interested. 

Dave’s interest returned to the video. He watched Rose closely and saw something off with her magic. Some of the tendrils were moving out of her control. While most of them were blocking bullets from the machine gun, there were about three that were near her ear, as if they were whispering. 

“There,” Jade stepped up to the TV and pointed at exactly that. “There’s something off with her little tentacle things here. They aren’t protecting her. That could leave her open.” she explained. 

“Right,” Dirk said. “But keep watching.”

They did. After a couple of minutes of Rose’s amazing defense routine, they all saw it. On of the wisps moved the opposite way of Rose’s needle, leaving her shoulder open. It went too fast, but it looked like she was shot when her shoulder flew back, taking her body with her. She only went back a couple of feet before she found her balance again. Her magic was fading, the tentacles smaller and less opaque. She was hunched over and her breathing got heavy. Rose was powerful when it came to offense and defense, but even one mild hit could really drain her. Usually, she was careful about not getting hit. She was breathing and it looked like she was saying something, but the camera didn’t pick up what it was and Dave had no way of finding out. 

A burst of magic shot out from Rose’s feet, grabbing the gunner and flinging him at a wall, successfully cracking it. The sudden outburst and the fact that she put that man in the hospital wasn’t the weirdest part. It was how she was holding her head and screaming. Dave directed the sound away from him and Jade, who was whining and had her ears pressed against her head. He thought about moving it all to her cousin, but he didn’t. 

“Her arm.” Gentleman said. Dave looked at him, wishing he could say something along the lines of “Thank you Captain Obvious. If it wasn’t for you and your terrific sherlock-ing, we would have never realized that she was shot in the arm.” Dave looked to Dirk, who was trying to look at anything rather than the jungle boy. 

_This guy likes stating the obvious?_

_Yeah._

Dave snickered, which only sounded like air. No laugh and no voice. But he could’t help it. 

“Uh, right.” Dirk cleared his throat and rewound the video, to right before Rose was shot. He zoomed in on her arm and played it extremely slow so the gang could see every detail. He played it and Dave watched closely. There was no sound, thankfully. He watched as the bullet passed her arm, the lead grazing her, blood slowly pooling on her fair skin. The only thing that looked off was how fast the shadows started to enter the cut. It was still slow, but it was much faster than the rest of the video. 

“Oh my god…” Jade gasped. Dave looked over to her and saw her eyes wide and her hands over her mouth. 

“Yeah…” Dirk stopped it and looked around at everyone. “So you see, it’s possible that Rose left because she couldn’t handle her powers. While her mother and sister aren’t sure, they said that she hasn’t used any dark magic-“

“But all of her little tendril doodads are black as sin.” Gentleman interrupted.

“That doesn’t meant it’s black magic. It’s just a color.” Dirk retorts. Dave waves his hand to get his brother’s attention. Dirk looked over and raises an eyebrow. 

_Rose says manipulating the shadows is easy. It isn’t black, it’s like elemental she said._

Dirk looks at what he’s saying, putting all of the signs together in his head. “Okay. So those are just shadows, not dark magic. Thank you, Dave.” Dave nods in response. 

“So she plays with shadows and they can protect her?” Jade asks. Dirk nods. 

“Her and her mother have some magical persuasions in their family history. Rose was just more adept than her sister, so that’s why Roxy can’t do magic.” Dirk looks to Gentleman when he says this, but as soon as he does he flinches slightly and looks away. Dave sees it. 

“Alright… so what are we supposed to do?” Jade asks, seeming as though she was taking all of this in. Which made sense. She was Miss Science, really. It was hard for her to even believe that Bro could read minds. So hearing that Rose could actually do magic was probably not something she wanted to hear. 

“No one has seen Rose, nor heard from her, since this incident. Her family is missing her and her partner can’t handle all of the crime by herself. It’s pretty bad on the east coast right now. So the mission is find Needle and bring her back safely.” Bro interjected. All heads turned to him. Jade’s grandpa stood up to go stand next to the couch arm Bro was sitting on, since Dirk and his computer shit took up the whole damn couch. 

“Jake and Jade, you will be on a plane to rendezvous with Ms. Lalonde in New York. There, you will restock supplies, get some important information from Rosanna, and then take a car to the docks, where you will find one of my yachts. The belief is is that she is somewhere along the coast, but no one knows where.” Mr. Harley told the darker haired youngsters. 

Dave looked to Dirk, who raised an eyebrow and looked to Bro. “What about Dave and I, Bro?” he asked, triumphantly voicing Dave’s own thoughts. Bro crossed his arms. 

“What did ya think ya’ll would be doin’? Yer gonna stay here an’ take care of the shit that’s multiplyin’ on the streets of Houston, lil’ bro.” Bro answered.  

Hell no. 

Hell. 

Fucking. 

No. 

“No fucking way, Bro. We’re gonna help Jake and Jade. Quit messing around.” Dirk waved his older brother off and went back to typing stuff on his computer. A chuckle in the corner of the room made Dave look up to Gentleman, or Mr. Jake English. He had his arms crossed and a smirk spread across his smug face. 

“I’ll be in charge of the computers, if that’s okay with you Harley.” Dirk continued. Jade bit her lip, afraid to say anything. 

“Ya’ won’t be in charge of anythin’ for this operation because ya’ ain’t goin’. How the hell else am I s’posed tuh say it?” Bro said again, a bit more aggressively this time. Dave’s gaze shot over to him, eyes wide, unable to glare. 

 _What do you mean?_ his fingers flew, fast and steady from years of practice. Bro groaned and shook his head. 

“Dave, ya’ ain’t goin’. Both ah’ ya’ got responsibilities here. Jake an’ Jade can handle it, they’ve been trained and shit. Ya’ll ain’t got no experience in tracking and takin’ down a witch.” he argues, trying hard to stay calm from the looks of it. 

“And they do?!” Dirk suddenly exploded. His hands were quick to take off Hal and look Bro right in the eyes. “Pardon me for saying, _sir_ , but I highly doubt these two have had experience with that. Sure, they can track shit. Jade’s part dog for fuck’s sake. But I seriously fucking doubt that are equipped to handle an angry, scared, and probably very confused Rose.” His voice got softer and more deadly as he spat the words at Bro. 

“We actually-” 

“Shut the hell up and stay out of this, English.” Dirk hissed. Dave looked at his brother, both proud and afraid at the same time. Dave wasn’t about to enter this. It wouldn’t be as amazing as Dirk’s outburst. And Bro could ignore Dave easier than he could Dirk. 

Jake shrunk back, in awe of what the middle Strider had said to him. Served him right for being such an asshole the entire time he was here. Dave smirked, proud of his bro. 

“Dirk.” Bro snapped. Dirk stopped talking but didn’t look at Bro. Dave instinctively looked away as well. “You aren’t going.” he growled. The sudden enunciation of his words made shivers run down Dave’s spine. He was never like this. Dave didn’t know if Bro was trying to break Dirk’s resolve or if he was actually worried about the pair. Dirk tore his gaze away from the wall behind the TV in front of him- a common place to look when you didn’t want to look at Bro- to look at Bro. 

It was incredibly hard to defy Bro. The man had given up his military career to take care of his brothers. But that wasn’t the reason. Oh no, that wasn’t it at all. Bro was someone who could hold you in his grasp with blackmail and money and actual physical tussles. He knew their secrets and how to bend them to do what he wanted. They were adults now, but by no means emancipated. Legally, yes. Really? No. They lived with Bro and did what he wanted. He was the one who funded Dirk in everything since Dirk didn’t have a job. He was the one who kept Dave in school and got him gigs and was already starting a college fund for him. 

Not only all of this funding, but Bro could take both of them. Like, in an actual physical fight any day of the week. 

But, the fact that Dirk willingly looked into the eyes of Derrick Strider told Dave that he was going to openly disregard everything. He was going to say no. Dave looked at Dirk and bit his lip. Dirk didn’t even acknowledge him. He was too busy challenging Bro. While they were doing this, Dave’s phone buzzed. 

 

 **\--** **gardenGnostic [** **GG** **] began pestering turntechGodhead** **[** **TG** **] at 22:27 --**

 ******GG: dave what’s going on?**

 ******TG: jade this isnt really a good time**

 ******GG: yeah but why? what’s going on? :P**

 ******TG: please dont make little faces at a time like this. this is some serious shit**

**GG: yeah but WHY >:B**

******TG: …**

 ******GG: dave tell me!!!**

 ******TG: jade chill.**

**TG: okay**

**TG: dirk is gonna try and make bro let us go.**

******GG: seriously?!?! :O**

 ******TG: yeah.**

 ******GG: that would be fun!**

 ******\-- timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] joined chat at 22:28 --**

 ******TT: Dave, I believe it is in your best interest that you pay attention.**

**TG: shit.**

**\--** **turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [** **GG** **] at 22:29 --**

 

 ****Dave put his phone back in his pocket and looked to Jade, who stuck her tongue out at him. Nothing was happening. Bro and Dirk sat still, Mr. Harley was standing stiff, as though there was a 2x4 strapped to his back, and Jake was sitting in the corner, the tension in the room making him fidget. The air in the room was as thick as Dirk’s hair gel and it was suffocating everyone.

No one moved when Dirk opened is mouth, his voice low and feral, the words coated with a hint of warning. Even Jake stopped. 

“Dave is the only one who knows Rose at all. I’m not letting him stay here and I’m not letting him go in alone. We’re going.” 

There was a pause before Bro answered. 

“Who’s gonna take care of things here?” 

“You can. You’re tough enough. You have enough shitty swords.” Dirk hissed. He typed something on his computer. 

“Or get Roxy or Kanaya. I’m sure Kanaya would love to get out of New York for a while.” Dirk rolled his eyes. The code on the screen began to look familiar and Dave felt his mouth twitch into a smile. 

“ _Please_ _state_ _your_ _name_.” The computer said. Dave had always thought of the male voice as Hal, and Dirk had not confirmed or denied this yet. Bro did nothing. 

“Dirk Strider.” Dirk said into the microphone on his laptop. Jade jumped back when the coffee table stared to move toward the wall with the door, growling at the machinery. 

Under the coffee table, there were stairs. They led to the apartment below them, but no one lived there. Bro had bought both apartments. The lower level was a storage area. 

“ _Welcome,_ _Spitfire_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will not have schedule. Thank you for reading and I hope I get chapter four up soon! Thanks so much! Please R&R!


	4. Gravity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Real Men Wear Tights by Bananaramses, SergeantMeow.
> 
> Work based on http://archiveofourown.org/works/469179/chapters/811056#_=_  
> All character designs are of her creation. http://bananaramses.tumblr.com  
> I do no own Homestuck or any of these designs. Just the plot line.

Chapter 4

_Gravity_

 

The lower level of the apartment housed a lot of the stuff the boys couldn’t fit in the upper level without making it all look like clutter. So, many swords were on display, there were a couple of guns from Bro, Bro’s uniform was on display, badges on the walls, at least twenty computers. There were huge monitors where the TV should have been. They displayed everything from police radio channels to the street camera footage. This was kind of illegal, Dave thought, but he wasn’t really sure.

The entire apartment was dark. The only light came from the large monitors in the front. They Dave looked to Jade and Jake, who were looking around. They weren’t super impressed like someone might be when you live in a house of superheroes, but these two worked with the government. Jade’s great-aunt was a famous inventor Jasmine English. She worked with nuclear physics and advanced robotics. Extremely smart, highest IQ in the world right now. Jake was set to inherit everything she had, which was a slightly noticeable percent of the money in all of the United States. Too bad he didn’t inherit her smarts.

So, those two were probably only impressed that three civilians had pretty advanced shit in an apartment.

“Dirk did all o’ this, Can ya’ believe it?” Bro said. Dave turned around and saw that he was talking to Jacob.

“Well, I must say, the boy’s got talent. I’d like to know what mischief him and my granddaughter would cause.” he replied thoughtfully. Dave raised an eyebrow. Those two could probably cause the end of the world. Jade was the one that had inherited Jasmine’s smarts. She was the one who could build a robot in a matter of a few days. Her and Dirk could probably build an army simply because they would make it a game. They would try to see who could make the most robots in a set number of days and suddenly boom robot army everyone was doomed.

Dave tapped on Bro’s arm and started signing.

_I don’t think he’d want to see that._

Bro chuckled and turned to Jacob, who was looking at Dave curiously.

“He said you wouldn’t want tuh see that.”

“Ah.” Jacob looked at Dave and started to enunciate his words and talk a bit like Dave was a foreign exchange student who knew three words of english. So kinda like an idiot. Meaning exactly like Jake. “Young man. I would like to see what my granddaughter is capable of.”

“He knows English ya’ dolt.” Bro slapped Jacob on the back playfully.

“Oh. Yes. Right.” Jacob stopped talking and looked back to Jade, who was scowling at her grandpa. Dave looks to Bro and then points to Jacob. Bro nods. Dave starts signing and Bro starts talking.

“So, what is it ya’ do?” Bro told him. Jacob looked between the two Striders under his glasses.

“Well, I am a huntsman and marks man. If you’ve ever heard of Jacob Harley, I’m one in the same.” he smiled. Dave raised an eyebrow. He shook his head, and the old man laughed.

“Quite alright, lad! Not many youngsters have heard of my extravagant tales.”

“What?!” Jake stops and Dave sees Dirk sigh and give a thumbs up to Dave. Dave shrugs in response.

“How have you never heard of Jacob Harley? This is atrocious-”

“Jake English you stop it this instant.” Jacob barked. Jake immediately shuts up. Dave hears Jade snicker and he smiles.

The group gathers around Dirk, who was sitting in a chair in the center of all of the large monitors. On one screen there were lines and lines of creamsicle orange text and codes. On another was Rose’s video on editing software. On the last was a map on one window and the police things on the other. On the desk in front of Dirk was a laptop. The screen had red text moving at impossible speeds, seeing as Dirk wasn’t even touching the keyboard.

“Dammit, Hal…” he grumbled. Dave had realized that over the years that Dirk had taken to talking to Hal when there was no one around. He was probably the only one who could keep up with him intellectually.

“What are you trying to do?” Jade leans over the back of the chair and scans the texts, probably trying to find familiar lines in the never ending sea of letters and numbers. She pulls off her goggles and squints her eyes.

“Just trying to finish up something, but Hal has completely taken it over… No, dick weed that’s not what it was meant for… I’m not! Jeez!” Dirk had forgotten Jade was even there and was now carrying on a conversation with Hal.

“What is it you’re trying to do?” Jade asks again, with a little more aggression. Dave’s eyebrows lift up a bit. This was obviously all of those years of interrogations and shit. That Dave obviously knew nothing about.

“I’m just trying to get the nanobots to-”

“Nanos?!” Jade was suddenly excited. Her eyes lit up, but Dirk was suddenly very pale.

“You have to let me take some back to Oz to study-”

“No way, Harley.” he wiped an imaginary slate of the conversation. “These are for a specific use and they’re _mine_. I don’t mean to be all selfish, but I don’t want any crazy government agency that turned a thirteen year old into some weird doggy soldier to have control over an army of small, dangerous robots.” Dirk scolded her. She frowned. Not only her face, but her ears as well.

“What is their use, then?” Mr. Harley asked, his greying eyebrow raising over his glasses. His tone was warning Dirk, as if to say “don’t talk to my granddaughter like that again.”

Dirk was typing when he started talking again, but it was after a moment of silence. He probably didn’t want to say anything to the man, but it’s rude to purposely ignore the question.

“You’ll see in a few minutes.”

No one else said anything on the subject. Bro didn’t push and Jacob said quiet. They all let Dirk type away at his program. Jade read over his shoulder, as if she could figure out the meaning behind all of the random words and numbers by just simply staring at it. She might be able to, really. She was a genius and one of the only ones able to match Dirk on an intellectual level thanks to her great aunt. And probably Oz. They probably had something to do with it.

“Who’s this dapper chap?” Dave heard Jake’s voice farther into the apartment. Bro was there in a fraction of a second and Dave followed him as quickly as he could.

The adventurer was holding a picture frame in his hands, studying what Dave assumed was a face. It came from a small table under a large picture frame, the display holding a pressed Marines uniform. There were a few other picture frames, all of the sterling cases holding a picture of any number of faces from one to six. They were all blond and some wore sunglasses in the harmful Texan rays that illuminated the smiling faces. There was one of baby boys, one still an infant and wrapped tight in a blanket like a burrito, the older child staring at the small human in someone’s arms, the awe plain on his face. He was held by steadier arms. A man’s arms. It was the youngest Strider boys. Dave looked away, seeing as it was his birthday.

The next one was a blond man smiling brightly while standing next to a young Bro. He was saluting the camera and smiling at the photographer. He was wearing his uniform for basic training. This was from when Bro finished boot camp. It was their father standing next to him, proud of their son.

Bro looked a lot like their father, except their father actually put time into how he looked. Always a clean tee shirt, nice jeans, and always the same good looking flip flops. His hair was short cropped on the side with a bit of bangs in the front that stood up due to gel and wax. He was as tan as the other boys, if not tanner from working out in the sun and his crow’s feet and smile lines showed how happy he was from years of smiling and laughing. He was pretty broad, like Bro, but he was obviously getting old in that picture. Probably late thirties, early forties; who knew except Bro.

Another picture showed a platinum blonde woman with black lips and bright eyes. It was Rose and Roxy’s mother, Rosanna, her hair going past and cascading down her shoulders. She had on a iris colored headband. With her was Bro and his father. They were all friends. The next one was of Rosanna and a younger Strider father, with seven year old Dirk and Roxy. Roxy, with her shoulder length pale golden blonde hair and bubblegum eyes, was reaching for Dirk’s shades. Dirk was shrinking back.

Another had Dirk and Roxy, three years old, looking at babies Dave and Rose. They were sitting up, but only by the grace of Rosanna and Dave’s mother holding them. The fair haired woman had her back to the photographer, so viewers couldn’t see her face. Her hair was paler than Dirk’s, Bro’s, or their father’s and longer than Rosanna’s. She had a small frame and almost weak posture. She was probably sick.

Sadly, Dave didn’t know anything about his mother. Her and his father died in an accident when Dave was only about a year old. Bro never talked about her. The only picture that they had of her was lost in where ever Bro was shipped out to. She was the one taking all of the pictures. If there were any pictures of his mother, he never saw any of them. The only thing he knew was that he looked like her.

The picture that Jake had in his hand was probably the one of their father and Dirk at about four years old, just before he died.

“That’s the former patriarch of the Strider household.” Bro said dramatically. Dave saw him point at the man in the photo. Jake studied the photo some more, looking between him and Bro.

“Is the little lad you?” he asked Bro. He was so informal and dorky. Dave wanted to gag. “

"Nope, that there is the the lil’ dude sittin' at the computer over there.” Bro said, a smirk playing on his face. Jake’s eyes widened a bit and something flashed in them. He cleared his throat. Dave turned around and saw Dirk burning holes into Jake with his eyes. You go, bro.

It was almost as if he was waiting for Jake to say something stupid. Really, Dave was doing the same thing. He was hoping Dirk would yell at him again if he did. Jake chuckled nervously.

“Heh, well, um. Right.” he put the photo down and wiped the dust off on his shirt. There were fingerprints all over the glass now, all over the small Dirk. All over his chest and head. Dave went to pick it up and clean it, but Dirk was there before he could even move his hand. He starts to furiously rub the glass, trying to wipe it clean with his tee-shirt. He doesn’t say anything, but Bro puts a hand on his shoulder, making Dirk flinch.

“I’m trying…” Dave hears Dirk whisper. But, none of the Islanders hear it. Jade, maybe, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was too busy talking to Hal from the looks of it.

“I know,” Bro acknowledges. Dave was bit surprised by this, since Bro wasn’t really the “I see you’re having a struggle and I see that and I’m going to be super nice about it because you’re obviously having a rough time for some weird reason.” He was more the “Rub some dirt on it,” kind of guy. It’s even better because he’s actually said that. Many times. To both of his younger brothers.

Dirk finally gave up on trying to clean it and set it back down. The picture was so different from Dirk now. The kid was actually smiling.

“Harley!” Dave suddenly heard Dirk yell. He spun around and saw Jade at the computer, typing. He had assumed, in the beginning, that she was talking to Hal. He hadn’t thought about the possibility that she was messing around with Dirk’s programs. To be honest, Hal was probably helping her.

She turned around and her ears fell in shame. She whimpered a bit and shrunk away from the laptop. Dirk was there in a flash, trying quick and furiously. He groaned and pulled his glasses off.

“Why don’t you try helping me for once, idiot.” he muttered. Jade rolled her eyes and shuffled over to Dave.

“I was just trying to figure out what he was doing with nanobots.” she mumbled, huffing a piece of hair out of her face. Dave snickered. She smiled and hit him playfully on the shoulder.

“Seriously! I need these to get back on track.” Dirk said. Dave looked over and saw the mixture of red and orange text. He gaped. He had known that Hal was basically him, but he hadn’t realized that they were so in sync that they could write code extremely fast together. It was like alternating letters, each in a new color. But if varied. A whole line could be one color, or half a line, or it could be a bunch of mixed up bullshit.

“You talkin’ tuh yer shades again, lil’ dude?” Bro called over to him.

“Yes! But only because he’s being an asshole. I can’t believe he wants me to hook him up to all of the computers in the house.” Dave could practically hear Dirk roll his eyes at their older brother.

“Whoa, no no no.” Bro said, almost as if he was talking to a horse that was going too fast. “No way in hell yer lettin’ that thing handle my computer nonsense.” Bro finished.

Dirk scoffed. “Yeah, because I really don’t want to be hearing about all of the porn you watch.”

 _Burn_. Dave signed. Bro shot him a look

“You hush.” he warned. Dave held his hands up in surrender, but the obvious absence of his shades made instinctually careful of looking into Bro’s eyes.

It was the main reason they wore the shades.

“Hal, seriously.” Dirk gritted his teeth. Dave looked away from Bro and sauntered over to Dirk, pulling up a rolling chair. Dirk looked at him for a fraction of a second, his fingers still moving at illegal speeds. Dave reached over and pointed to his glasses, pulling another laptop out of a desk compartment. He opened it and the Apple logo flashed a bright blue before he set it next to Dirk’s. Dirk sighed, but put his glasses on.

**\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT] at 22:57 --**

**TG: what happened?**

**TT: Do you remember the last fight we had together?**

**TG: course. that was some fuckin bullshit**

**TT: Right. Anyway, the bots in our suits were destroyed somehow and I haven’t worked on them since then.**

**TG: so theyre still fucked up**

**TT: Basically, yes.**

**TG: what did hal do this time**

**TT: He wasn’t adhering to proper protocol when being hacked by a genius. Like Jade.**

**TG: so he was just kinda letting her mess with your shit?**

**TT: Precisely.**

**TG: why are you so worried about her?**

**TG: its not like shes gonna erase all of your stuff**

**TG: she aitnt that mean.**

**TT: That’s not at all what I’m worried about.**

**TG: then whats up?**

**TT: I’m worried she’ll steal all of my data and plans. To be honest, I’m worried about what she already saw.**

**TT: Or, quite possibly, what Hal gave her. If she figured out how to get to the blueprints and the notes, she could build her own and take credit. I don’t want the technology to be used for the military.**

**TG: oh.**

**TT: Yeah, oh.**

**TG: well shit, you think she’d do that?**

**TT: She was pretty interested in them. I wouldn’t be surprised. She would probably do anything for that Oz program. That’s how she was raised.**

**TG: oh.**

**TT: …**

**TT: You okay, lil’ bro?**

**TG: yeah man, just weird thinking of jade like that.**

**TG: i dunno if she would do it.**

**TT: Exactly. You don’t know.**

**TG: jades too nice cmon man don’t be like that**

**TT: Shit, hang on.**

He began typing again, though he had been doing it the whole time. The furious clicking of the keyboard lessened in severity and Dirk slowed down, the red text taking over the coding for a moment while Dirk opened up the chat client with their text. Though Dirk had the magical power to turn thoughts into text with his Hal shades, he had always preferred normal typing. Plus, he probably wanted to keep an eye on Hal to make sure he wasn’t messaging Jade or something. He couldn’t monitor that on his shades.

**TT: Anyway, I wouldn’t put it past her. She has her priorities, and I don’t know if Rose is one of them.**

**TG: whoa hey**

**TG: dont talk like that.**

**TT: Sorry.**

**TT: I still don’t like it.**

**TG: you know**

**TT: What?**

**TG: nothing.**

**TT: No, come on. Tell me.**

**TG: are you sure youre not getting mad at her because shes related to jake?**

He stops and looks at Dave. Dave looks at him slowly. The fuckin’ mini-Bro is at it again, trying to stare into Dave’s soul. Dave held his hands up once again.

“Yes, I’m sure.” he hisses.

 _What happened between you and Jake, anyway?_ Dave signed.

 _Nothing_. Dirk signed back. Dave didn’t know why he was signing. He didn’t really like signing.

_That’s a lie._

_I don’t even know him._

_That’s also a lie._

_Why_ _don’t_ _you_ _just_ _fucking_ _drop_ _it?_ Dirk signed, more urgently. Dave rolled his eyes.

_O-K_

Dirk signed in relief. _Thank_ _you_.

Dave rolled his eyes when he went back to typing. He got up and went over to Jade once again not really knowing that he should be doing. He didn’t want to talk to Bro, he REALLY didn’t want to talk to Jake, and Dirk really didn’t want to talk to him. The only person now was Jade. And he couldn’t even talk to her.

“What’s up, cool kid?” she asked him, her smile the same as ever. He waved his hand at her. He didn’t feel like going over to the laptop and he didn’t feel like getting his phone out. Maybe he really just didn’t feel like talking.

 _B_ - _R_ - _B_ , he signed. She looked at him for a long while, trying to decipher the message.

“He said he’ll be right back,” Bro said from his corner, where he was talking to Jacob.

“Oh. Want me to come with you?” she asks, her ears perking up. Dave shakes his head and instinctually signs _No_ even though she has no idea what it means. She continues to smile and nod. Dave slowly starts walking to the back hall where the bedrooms were. As he passed by, he looked at the pictures on the table. This earned a small smile.

Dave never knew his parents. They had gotten into a fatal car accident a year after he was born, so he really had nothing to miss. Just like his voice. There was nothing there in the first place, so what was he supposed to cry about at night?

He missed Rosanna. Rosanna was a mom to both Dave and Dirk. She was something he remembered and loved. The great thing was he could FaceTime or Skype her when ever he felt he was desperately lacking in motherly advice and warmth.

Above all of the pictures was Bro’s fanciest uniform, the blue and red jacket pressed into a large picture frame, the sleeves crossed over the front, all of his ribbons pinned on neatly. The gold buttons were pressed into the glass, but not enough to scratch or crack it.

Bro never talked about his time in the military. Dave always thought it was because he lost someone there. A friend. While he didn’t know that, he did know that he lost the only picture the boys had of their mother over there. It was the only one that she wasn’t taking. She was a photographer and insisted on taking all of the pictures rather than being in them. The one shot was when their father had taken her camera and snapped a quick shot.

Well, maybe Rosanna has a copy that Dave never asked about, Dave thought. She has all of the same pictures that they do, from baby pictures of the boys to pictures or Bro and her together.

He continued his journey down the hall. The apartment was identical to his own. The room that would be his room was a storage unit, filled with computers, old clothes, and possibly some more pictures. The boys never went in there because it was mostly Bro’s shit. They didn’t know what the hell they would find and how much of it would kill them. True story.

The other two rooms on the other side of the hall were now one room. The wall was knocked down and not of the doors removed. The other door was… upgraded, for lack of a better term. The entire wall was reinforced with a metal that Dave didn’t care about. The door was a sliding space-y door. Then after that was another door. Both doors were locked and could only be opened by a Strider. It needed voice recognition, two passwords, a hand scan, and an eye scan. Dirk and Bro really went all out with it. It was a bunker, but not to hide in. It was protecting what was inside.

Inside were all of Dirk’s experiments that were quite possibly worth more than all of the equipment it took to build the security bunker. There were robots, computers and programs, AIs, and the suits for Spitfire and his partner.

Those suits were the most valuable things in there. Dirk could sell any of his programs or robots and still be okay. Nothing too bad would happen to the world. But the suits had technology only vaguely heard about in sci-fi novels.

Dave looked at the door and sighed. He’ll be in there with everyone soon enough. He started with his codes.

“Please enter Code A.” Hal said. Dave smirked and started typing into the the touch pad. “j@deR0sed1ckbr0.” he snickered. All of the Striders had agreed never to tell anyone, even each other, their password. So the other two never knew what he found so funny every time he typed it in. Also, since Hal recognized Code A as Dave, he was not subjected to a voice recognition for obvious reason.

“Dave, please enter Code B.” Hal told him. The circular spot in the wall opened up to reveal a camera. Dave started signing. All of the Striders knew each other’s Code B. The door didn’t open unless you had all four codes, so even if you had Code B, you needed Code A, a retinal scan, and a hand print to get through both doors.

_The future has been kidnapped by Juggalos._

Literally no one would ever guess that as a password.

“Dave, please step forward for retinal scan.” He did as Hal said and stepped forward. A green ray shot out and scanned his entire face, then his eye. The trick was that it was a facial recognition software, then the retinal scan, to make sure some bad dudes had a Strider eye in their possession didn’t get passed the door.

“Welcome, Dave. Please proceed to Door 2 for your hand print recognition.” the door opened with a quick, clean whoosh. Dave sauntered through it about two feet before being stuck behind another door. Another touch pad jutted out from the wall. Dave placed his hand on it and after a fleeting second, the door opened just as the first door closed.

The entire system was brilliantly thought of by both Bro and Dirk. They thought it was the best way to keep people from getting through the door, and the extra enforcement in the walls made it hard to get through those as well.

This cost a lot of money. Somehow, Dave doubted that Bro was able to pay for all of it. There had to be some of Dirk selling his robot designs, maybe some trust fund money from the Strider parental units, and Rosanna chipping in with money she made from writing. There had to be. But, Dave didn’t really care. It kept all of the important things safe. It kept Hal safe, it kept the suits safe, and it kept recipes for about a million disasters safe.

The room was large and the walls were all metal. There were more computers in here. So many. They were all over the walls. Inside the walls. Monitors gave the room light as soon as he entered it. It was still slightly dark, especially at the wall opposite to him, a little to his left. It was as if the entire corner was covered in a sheet. Dave ignored it, used to the feel of the room after years of use. He went over to the two large monitors to his left and sat in the old spinning desk chair. He pulled the keyboard out and started up the computer. He logged in and went straight to the Internet and then to Google.

Nothing special or secret. Just Google. He started to think. What was he even doing here? What was he trying to figure out that he thought the magic of Google could fix? Was it Rose? What would the search engine pull up that he didn’t already know? Nothing, probably. He knew all there was about Rose and he knew she was missing. He knew that she was out in the ocean. He knew that she was shot and her magic might be going haywire right about now.

He knew that she might be dead.

He closed his crimson eyes, wishing for the comfort of his shades but not wanting to go upstairs to get them. The white screen was a little too bright and so was the reality of the situation.

Then there was Dirk accusing Jade of trying to steal. That was some heavy shit. He was saying that Jade cared more about what Dirk had to offer than finding and saving Rose. That was something Dave wasn't okay with. Jade was Rose’s friend, too. Jade cared about her just as Dave does. The fact that Dirk brought up nanos was just Jade getting curious. She probably just wants to know more about them. Not steal them. She was here to find Rose.

And then there was Dirk almost falling off a building. This was something that bugged Dave more and more every time he thought about it. Dirk was a master of speed. That was something that he's been a master of since the age of like eight.

When Dave was ten years old, he remembers watching Dirk and Bro fight. Obviously, Bro had him beat in the swordsmanship department, but Dirk was fast. Not as fast as now, but he was fast. Dave had always thought he was teleporting, but he was just faster than his eyes could see. If his younger self could see Dirk now, going hand-to-hand with Bro and winning two out of three times against the old fart, then he would have been amazed. Dave was still amazed.

So it really makes no sense when he's almost caught and taken down on top of a building, the high ground more like a playground for the parkour enthusiast. What kind of person could do that, and what kind of power do they posses?

Dave started typing into the search bar.

_Houston superhero Spitfire almost falls off building_

The first thing that popped up was a YouTube video. The date was two days ago, corresponding with the story his classmates were telling in the choir room. He clicks it with the mouse and waits for it to load. The first image is something that came off a news report. Another big news story that Dave totally missed. He dropped his head and shook it.

It plays and Dave watches closely. The shot was coming from a bird’s eye view, meaning the cameraman was in a helicopter. Spitfire and his partner always got attention from the media. It's a wonder no one has figured them out; the only thing the hero was wearing was a black body suit. On the shoulders were shoulder pads, and on the thighs, shins, forearms, upper arms, chest, and groin were protective shields. He wore gloves, boots, and a high neck. All over the suit were orange, glowing lines, which made him easy to spot on the dark. Very Tron-esque. It was an easy target for the TV cameras. The only thing that covered his tangerine eyes was a visor like on a motorcycle helmet. It was connected to a metal headband, all of the computer stuff embedded in it. They reminded Dave of his anime Dorito shades, but didn't stick out at dangerous, obnoxious lengths. Like his hair. The visor was also programmed with a Hal AI Auto Responder. The technology in the one suit was something that countries all over the world wanted. There was the nanos; they were stitched into the suit. The tiny robots were in the suits to keep the wearer protected from high impact attacks, as well as repair damage to the suit on the go. There was also Hal. Hal was in his visor. He was an important AI to the entire Strider household. If anyone found out the algorithm for Hal’s programming, there could be some trouble. Hal was programed to find anything. He was programmed to answer any question. Someone getting their hands on it with ill intent would then have the answer to practically anything. Hal was a hacker and a top notch answer reciever. So the whole thing was pretty important. In the video, Dirk had his sword out, the high density metal daisho blades glistening in the search light. He was disappearing and reappearing on one tall building. It was like he couldn’t get off of it. Something was keeping him from getting away. Gunshots rang out the entire time, and Dirk was blocking them all. He could barely see the figure. It was dark and wearing dark clothing that, unlike Dirk’s, didn’t glow. Dave brought up the chat client on a small window in the corner, signed in, and started typing to Hal.

**\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT] at 23:13 --**

**TG: hal**

**TT: What’s up, dude?**

**TG: can you enhance the video im watching?**

**TT: What else am I here for?**

The video cleared up, the edges crisper and the picture more refined.

**TG: can you tell that the figure shooting at spitfire is?**

**TT: Want me to run a facial recognition?**

**TG: if youre able to**

**TT: Piece of cake.**

A red square appeared around what looked to be the face of the figure. The actioned opened up another small window, faces blurring by on a dark blue background. The faces had all different features, from black to white to asian to Indian. Bald, long hair, long face, round face, it didn’t matter. Hal was looking through them all.

**TT: Uh-oh.**

**TG: what**

**TT: There may be a problem.**

**TG: you cant do it can you**

**TT: Now now, we don’t say can’t here, David.**

**TG: seriously hal.**

**TT: Alright, no. I can’t do it when the quality is this terrible.**

**TG: ill be sure to tell channel 5 news you think their recording is shit**

**TT: Have fun getting them to believe you, dude.**

**TG: so you really cant do it?**

**TT: Nope. The pixels are too fucked, to put it simply.**

**TT: Looks like you have some visitors.**

Another window popped up, practically covering the news video. It wa the security camera outside Doors 1 and 2. Dirk led the pack, with his shades off. The camera was angled so that the person watching couldn’t see what the person typing was writing. When Dirk had entered his Code A, another window popped up, now fully covering the video.

**Name: Dirk “Spitfire” Strider**

**Code A Input: Correct**

Dave watched as he signed his next entrance code.

_Pumpkin party in sea Hitler’s water apocalypse_

God, that was so dumb.

**Code B Input: Correct**

Dave then watched as Hal asked for the vocal recognition.

“Dirk Strider, codename ‘Spitfire’.” Dirk said.

**Vocal Recognition: Dirk “Spitfire” Strider**

Dave watched as the green light ran over Dirk’s face, then to his eye. He saw Jade whisper something to Jake, but the mic didn’t catch it, so Dave couldn’t hear it.

**Retinal Scan and Facial Recognition: Dirk “Spitfire” Strider**

The door opened and Dirk moved forward, putting his shades back on. Jade tried to enter, but Bro held out his arm to stop her. He shook his head.

**Handprint Recognition: Dirk “Spitfire” Strider**

Door 2 opened and Dave spun in the chair and waved at Dirk, welcomingly albeit a little awkwardly.

“What were you doing?” Dirk asked, eyeing the windows open on the screen.

 _Talking to Hal about something._ He signed in reply.

“What about?” he raised a light brunet eyebrow and put his shades back on. He could see his eyes flicker behind the plastic lenses. He was more than likely trying to find the conversation between him and Hal, or looking through the windows Dave had open. After a couple of seconds he looked back down at Dave.

“Hal blocked one of your windows.” he stated. Dave sighed internally in relief.

_I don’t know._

“What is it?”

_Nothing important._

“Then why is it blocked?” he asked, but a soft alarm sounded on the computer and a little pixel police light showed up on the user sign in window.

**Code A Input: Incorrect**

The boys looked at the camera and Bro was looking right at them.

“Sorry boys. Typo.” he said. They sighed. Dirk pressed a button and spoke.

“You’ve entered that code at least a million times.” he said disappointedly. Bro scoffed and waved him away with a gloved hand.

“Hush up and let me back in tuh the systum.” he said, his drawl distorting his pronunciation. Dirk pushed the button once more.

“Will do.” he started typing on the keyboard, Dave moving out of the way so he could do so.

“You’re good.” he pushed the mic button and  said after about three seconds.

“Thank ya’.” Bro saluted with two fingers and went back to the touch pad.

**Name: Corporal Derrick “Bro” Strider**

**Code A Input: Correct**

“I can’t believe he fucked up his entry code.” Dirk rolled his eyes and looked over to Dave. He simply shrugged and started to scoot away on the rolling chair, slowly going toward the dim corner while still looking at the screen.

_Camp counselor Broseph Strider._

God dammit. Dave rolled his eyes and ran his hands through his hair, successfully ruining it. He looked away and spun around to face the dark corner. He snapped so Dirk would look at him. He did. Dave started to sign to ask:

_Can I see the suits?_

Dirk nodded and started another sequence. A dim light started to glow in the corner, slowly becoming a bright blue. It gradually illuminated two pods. In them, there were mannequins. On the mannequins were the suits. Spitfire's suit, stiff and finished up repairs, was in the pod to the left. Dave could see the holes stitching up, the suit becoming whole again. One the base of the dow as a brass plaque that read “Spitfire”. On the pod to the right, the plaque said “Hi-fi”. In the pod, the mannequin wore another suit. 

It wore a red button up, the sleeves rolled up. Over it was a white vest with black and red lapels. The front was short and had only one point of connection to keep it closed, while the side came down to the knees on the grey pants. Over the waistcoat was a shiny red belt with knobs and buttons on the ends. Over the pants, a mixture of skinny jeans and slacks, were black and red metal knee guards. Then, of course, the red and black shoes. Of course, no superhero could have laces, so the front was smooth and void of any zippers or string. On the mannequin’s head were an impressive pair of red and gun metal grey headphones. The crimson cord disappeared under the vest. Between the speakers there was a band of dark plastic; it was a visor, like Spitfire’s. It was how the two communicated.

Dave snapped and Dirk instantly looked his way. 

_They look like they’re fixing just fine._

“Yeah, Jade and Hal didn’t do anything that couldn’t be fixed quickly.” Dirk replied, the eye roll in his voice obviously obvious. Dave stuck his tongue out at his brother as the rest of the gang entered the bunker. 

“Whoa, this is so cool!” Jade exclaimed. Dave smiled and scooted over on his chair to welcome her to the Bat Cave. She giggled. Mission accomplished.

“Dirk an’ I set this whole thing up.” Bro said, a slightly gloating tone to his voice. 

“Quite the feat, chap.” Jacob says, taking his glasses off and cleaning them while looking around. “What are all of these things?”

“Nothing.” Dirk said, just before Bro could explain. He pushed another key and the lights in the back half of the bunker turned off, hiding all of the other achievements from the Harley-English clan. 

“Are the suits ready to take out?” Bro walked up behind Dirk and questioned. 

“They will be by the time I’m done worth this.” the middle Strider reassured, fairly quietly. Bro nodded and looked to Dave. 

“You ready?” he raised an eyebrow. 

_Yes._

Bro nodded once more and strode over to the dark haired visitors. Dave pushed himself to the right most pod. In front of it was another touch pad for hand prints. He smiled. He got the familiar rush of adrenaline that he always got before suiting up. He hand started to make contact with the pad before Dirk startled him almost to tears. 

“I found Rose.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow what's happening. I don't know.  
> Just kidding. I have a plan.  
> Mostly. 
> 
> Apologies for it being so long it's a "Sorry for the wait" present.  
> Thanks for reading and remember to please R&R! :)


	5. Pilot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill by now, right?
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I'll be doing writing commissions, so hit me up if you're interested. :0

Chapter 5

_Pilot_

 

Dave tugged on the glove a little more before buttoning the black and white hand protector. He looked at the information that was on repeat on the visor he wore. He couldn’t read as fast as Hal was giving, so he caught bits and pieces as it scrolled across the screen. He also tried to pay attention to where he was walking so he didn’t fall. 

“Alright, have you boys ever been in a helicopter before?” Jacob looked at both Dave and Dirk as the squad made their way to the roof via stairs. Jacob led them with Bro by his side, Dirk following like a lackey. He had his swords strapped to his back and his little lines of neon lights glowing. Dave filed in behind Dirk, followed by Jade, and Jake was the caboose. 

“Nah, we prefer travel by rooftop.” Dirk said. He was completely serious, and that was the funny thing. Dave snickered and Jacob chortled. 

“Well, flying is quite different. But, I assure you, my heli is in tip-top shape. It’s perfectly safe, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Jacob looked back at them and reassured. 

“How many times will we have to stop for fuel?” Dirk asked. Jacob waved him away. 

“Oh, don’t you worry lad. The pilot will know exactly what to do. Besides, you won’t be taking the chopper the whole way to New York.”

“I’m gonna guess about one stop then.” Dirk muttered. He was probably doing some crazy math with Hal. 

“Any who, the helicopter is an improvised design. It’s quite fast, so it will only take about two hours to get to my airport in New Orleans, where you’ll take a jet to New York, which is about two and a half hours.” he explained. 

“Sounds great.” Dirk confirmed, looking at the see-through tablet in his hands that was no doubt feeding the information to Dave’s visor. “Is the chopper fully fueled now?”

“Yes it is, young man.”

“And the jet will be fully fuled when we get there?”

“Of course.”

“And-”

“Dirk, shut yer yap. The man’s got shit under control. Ain’t nothin’s gonna happen. This thing's got his grand-baby riddin’ in it. No shit’s hittin’ this fan while she’s involved. Ain’t that right English?” he nudged the older man. Jacob clear his throat and chuckled. 

“Quite right. All of our vehicles are the safest in the world.” 

“Right,” Dirk said, dragging the word out sarcastically. 

“Oh, c’mon Dirk. Don’t be a sourpuss.” Jade teased. “Everything Grandpa makes is super good, so we’ll all be fine.” 

“You say that now…” he smirks when Jade reached around Dave to hit him on the shoulder. Dave chuckles but continues to decipher what Hal was trying to tell him. There were maps all along his visor; it showed the east coast of the US. It kept zooming into the ocean outside of New York, Rose’s home, until it showed a small island. That was where Dirk suspected Rose was. It wasn’t a country island or an island really claimed by anything apparently. According to Dirk, it was like Hawaii; a string of islands sinking and rising with the change in the world. The island wasn’t always there, basically. So, it was a perfect hideout for a renegade magick user; no one knew it existed. 

“Sooooo…” Bro dragged out the transition. “How did yah find Rosie again, Lil’ Dude?” 

Dirk scoffed. “I literally told you exactly how. My computers were picking up energy emanating off of some little land mass in the ocean and after researching it, that island didn’t exist. Then, I ran some tests on the energy and found out it was the same type of energy that comes when Rose uses her magick. Not only that, it was closely relating to the wavelengths that occurred when Rose was loosing control in the bank.” he explained, his hands working some bullshit magic on the screen. More pictures then showed up on Dave’s visor. This time, he was looking at two graphs with an ombre yellow to deep twilight sky blue, the skinny mountains fluctuating sharply. The graphs suddenly merge and Dave sees that they are very similar. There were minute differences but they were basically the same. The dates on the graphs were flashing and Dave saw that they were indeed dates from last night around midnight and the day that Rose had disappeared, according to the news reports.

Which Dirk had fed Dave for about an hour until he knew the situation. 

“What’s that tablet there, Dirk?” Jake’s voice cut through the silence, making Dave roll his eyes. He was pretty done with Jake right now. By the few moments of silence from Dirk, Dave could tell that his older brother was not happy the treasure hunter was here, either.

“Hal.”  was all Dirk said. 

“What in the dickens is Hal? Like the computer system in _2001_?” Jake tried to continue the conversation. 

“He gave himself the name. If it has anything to do with that, I don’t care. I’d rather call him AR.” Dirk mumbled. There was a couple seconds of silence and then he started to mumble to himself again, which means that he was talking to Hal and messing with he tablet at the same time. 

“What’s AR?” 

“Auto Responder.” Dirk’s response was choppy and ill-mannered. 

“And how! Of course he changed it! That’s baloney. Hal sounds so much better.” Jake huffed. Dave tried not to roll his eyes when Dirk hung his head; Dirk’s reaction was enough for both of them. 

“That’s what he is, English.” 

“Doesn’t mean you need to be a Grundy about it…” the treasure hunter murmured. 

“You’re not even making any sense!”

“Chill out, Lil’ Dude.” Bro turned his head to face Dirk. Dave could practically see the steam coming out of the hero’s ears and wanted to remind him that is was so not cool for him to lose it. Dave didn’t care who this off-brand Treasure Island, twenties slang talking dork boy was, it was against the rules of the Strider household to lose your cool. It was what made being a Strider so well known. 

“I’m cool,” Dirk assured. 

“Anyway, Dirk… did you share the files with Jake and I?” Jade asked, trying desperately to change the subject. Dave admired her effort, but her sweet talking wasn’t going to convince Dirk to stop being a complete dick to the Islander. The evidence was Dirk’s scoff. 

“Didn’t think that Mr. 1920s here would even have that kind of tech.” Dirk mumbled. Thankfully, Jade and Dave were the only ones to hear. Dave had no idea what would have broken out if Jake heard. Maybe he wouldn’t have cared?

“Yeah, I sent it to you…” Dirk finally answered Jade’s original question. Dave could hear her hum in victory behind him. 

“Jake, look up the island and get an idea of the surrounding area.” Corporal Harley was suddenly present when she started ordering Jake around. He scoffed, but replied politely enough. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” he said, as though he was also in the military. He’d probably been around enough officials with Jade for a cousin. 

“Alright Striders, listen.” Bro turned his head to face the two blonds. Dave and Dirk perked up, but the continued to walk through the door leading to the roof. On the roof was a large, sleek, black helicopter with the doors open and the propellers revolving fairly slowly. 

“Corporal Harley will lead this operation as the head, while Gentleman will be the second in command as well as the guide for the island when you all arrive.” Jacob started. Dave could hear Dirk open his mouth, but the look from Bro made him shut it. Jacob continued. 

“Both Harley and Gentleman are trained pilots for both my jets and helicopters. Gentleman will be the navel navigator and captain of the boat you will take to reach the island. Please, everyone. Listen to my grand-daughter. She has been training for years and excels at it. You boys are there for information and extra protection for Corporal Harley. Is that understood?” Jacob was very serious about the last part when he stopped in front of the door to the copter. In it, there was only a pilot. The co-pilot had since gotten out, armed with a large black gun and large black pads. He saluted Jacob, then Jade when she came to join her grandfather. 

Dave and Dirk both nodded. Jacob smiled and it was a fairly grandfatherly smile. 

“Excellent, lads. Now then, I trust you will all do terrific and work together just fine. Please, be safe and try your best.” he turned to Jade, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Lalonde will have weapons ready for you and my boat is equipped as well.” she nodded, then stood on her tip toes to kiss him on he whiskered cheek. 

“Yeah, love ya’ Grandpa.”

“I love you too, sweetie.” he said, smiling once more. Jade then boarded the helicopter, putting on a headset that resembled an X-Box Live headset, complete with a little spongy microphone. 

Jake walked up to his great uncle and pat him on the shoulder. Jacob leaned over and whispered something in his ear. 

“Nothing reckless, Jake. You keep her safe. That is your top priority.” Dave heard him whisper, almost silently. He frowned. That was one of the priorities, but wasn’t the mission objective to find Rose and bring her back?

Bro waved Dirk and Dave over to him. He put one hand on Dave’s shoulder and the other on Dirk’s. 

“You boys bring back Rosie, ya’ hear?” he told them. They both nodded in unison. Of course they would. That was what they were here for. Bro pat their shoulders once and urged them to the copter. They took long strides so that they could get there faster. Dirk entered first, then Dave. As they entered Jade handed them each a head set that matched her own. 

The seats in the copter sat two per side on hard benches, plus the pilots in front in their own chairs. Dave and Jade sat on the side that faced the pilots and windshield, while Dirk sat on the side that faced Jade and Dave. He sat on the pilot side, across from Jade, as if to get away from Jake. But, Dave was pretty sure that out of the corner of his eye, Dirk could clearly see Jake. It was almost as if sitting on that side was made to _look_ like he wanted to get away, but really he wanted to look at Jake and be less suspicious about it…

Nah, he didn’t like Jake. That much was hella clear. 

“Alright, everyone. Who’s ready to _fly_?” Jake looked back with an ecstatic expression. He buck toothed grin was ear to ear and his eyes twinkled like some kid who got a brand new iPhone. 

Dave felt uneasy. He didn’t really know why. He was anxious and suspicious. Being with Jade again made him a bit calmer, but even having four powerful kids armed to the teeth in a high-tech copter made by some of the most brilliant people in the world didn’t make it any better. Dave looked over at Jade for support. She smiled her adorable child-like smile and Dave had to respond with a small smirk of his own. It was contagious. 

“Alright, we’re ready to take off, Captain.” Jake saluted the pilot and he nodded. The helicopter started to lift off the ground, a lot quicker than Dave had expected, and suddenly they were in the air. Dave could feel Jake’s excitement from the back seat. Even though he had probably taken the chopper to Texas, he was still so happy to be in the air. 

“Gadzooks, I love flying. My job’s really the cat’s pajamas; getting to travel the world, adventuring… I adore going out to find treasure it’s just… wow. Wouldn’t you say, old chum?” Jake turned around and grinned at Dirk. Dirk was sitting in his seat with his tablet in his hand. He said nothing. To be honest, to Dave, it looked as though Jake was expecting him to. Which… which was odd, considering every interaction Jake has had with him thus far. 

“Fuckin’ peachy.” Dirk finally said. He was obviously busy with whatever he was working on on the tablet. Dave clapped his hands at his brother. He didn’t look up until Jade said something. 

“Um, Dirk? I think Dave is trying to get a hold of you.” she smiles sweetly. Dirk looks up, then to Dave. As soon as Dirk’s visor covered eyes are on him, he starts signing. 

_What happened between you two?_

_I told you not to worry about it. It’s none of your business._ He signed back, seeming to get a bit angrier. Dave rolled his eyes. 

 _You’re making it everyone’s deal when you act like that._ Dave pointed out. It was almost as if Dirk wanted someone to ask about him and Jake, but he was still in a sour mood about it. 

Dirk scoffs. “Maybe you should ask Wonder Boy about it,” he said. Dave frowned. 

_How the hell am I supposed to do that?_

“Ask me about what?” Jake turned around and looked from Dave to Dirk. Jade snickered. 

“Did you just seriously answer to Wonder Boy?” she asked her cousin. While that was a bit off topic, it was still pretty amusing. Jake turned to her and smirked. 

“Yeah, it was something Dirk used to call me.” he told her. Dave’s eyes got wide and he stared at Dirk, who was simultaneously curling in on himself. 

_Dirk. What happened?_

“It wasn’t my fault, Dave. It was his fault.” Dirk was almost too quiet. Almost. Jake heard him, and the statement was enough to make him raise a dark eyebrow. 

“What was that, mate?” he asked. It was almost a warning tone, but Dave had no idea what Jake was warning his brother about. However, Dave got a worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling similar to dread, but he had no clue what he was dreading. 

Something not good was about to happen, that much he was sure of. 

“I said it wasn’t my fault.” Dirks stated, a little louder. He still couldn’t look at Jake. He preferred looking to the floor. “It wasn’t supposed to hurt. You weren’t supposed to leave without a single word.”

Whoa… Okay. So his brother knew Jake and it really tore him up when he up and disappeared. That’s really what Dave is gathering from this. Jake didn’t seem to gather anything. He looked lost. He was an expert explorer but he couldn’t follow anything Dirk was saying. 

“I’m… I’m sorry? I  don't get it. We… we were chums and then-”

“Can you talk like a normal human being for once?!” Dirk suddenly exploded. He looked to Jake and was glaring straight through the jungle boy. Dave had a feeling he wasn’t annoyed at all with how the islander talked. He just needed something to be mad at. 

“I’m sorry, mate, but if my choice of speech isn’t to your liking then I don’t know what to tell you. You’ve never complained about it before, so why now?”

“Because, before you left, you were my friend. Now, your just some idiot that talks like he’s not even from this decade and it’s getting on my nerves.” Dirk was almost talking through his teeth, his anger a hiss. It was like a red hot steel being put in water. But, with the steel, you were cooling it down. At this point, Dirk wasn’t anywhere near cooling down. 

“Whoa, okay guys. I think we all just need to take a deep breath and-” Jade tried to get words into the conversation, mostly to end it, but she was cut off by Jake’s hand. He wasn’t even looking at her when he did it. He was looking at Dirk as if he had just called him some ridiculous name by a third grader who just found out what cussing was.

“Hang on, Jadey. Are you saying we aren’t friends any longer, Dirk?” Jake stared Dirk down. Dirk, whose uncomfort Dave could clearly see, was hiding it and holding his ground. 

“We stopped being friends the day you left without a trace.” Dirk spat. 

Jake threw his hands up very suddenly, making Jade and Dave, who were also very uncomfortable, jump a bit. 

“Well I’ll be damned! When I was called back from Singapore for a priority Alpha mission and found out you were involved, I was so excited! I thought I was going to see my best mate again after not talking for darn well near four years!” he was being sarcastic and Dave didn’t like it. He didn’t like how Jake was playing the guilt trip on his brother. Maybe, when Dirk knew him, he was cool. But years of probably working illegally and for money have probably changed him. He was Jade’s cousin and if Dave knew Jade, then he knew that she wasn’t raised to act like this. He obviously didn’t start out like this. 

“That doesn’t change anything! You left. Packed up and ran. You didn’t email, call, text, or leave a fucking note. You talk about being all ‘old-fashioned’, well where is it? Where is my hand written note saying that you would rather go looking for gold than stay with me? We were friends, Jake. Hell, at some points we… we were more than that. But you just fucking left and now you think I’m perfectly fine after that? Do you really think I don’t know so much about relationships to know that that _isn’t_ how they work?” Dirk…

Dirk was pissed. Dirk would never have done this in front of Bro. But, now they’re in front of some guy flying a helicopter a few hundred feet above the world, and Jade. So, it was _obviously_ perfectly acceptable to be yelling like this. 

“I’m a grown man, Dirk. I don’t need your permission to go and do my job.” Jake hissed. 

“Yeah, but you could at least inform me that you aren’t coming back, you’re not going to text me, you’re not going to call me, and you’re not going to tell me that you aren’t going to try and contact me for four years until you’re basically forced to. No, that’s not fucking important.” Dave watched his brother slump back into the bench and Jake go silent for a moment. In that moment, everyone could her the window shatter and the pilot collapse. 

There was a loud alarm that sounded and there were a couple of flashing buttons that made the cabin illuminate with an eery red tint. 

“What the hell?” Jade was instantly out of her seat while Jake was trying to turn the controls over to his joy stick. Dave sat, frozen and gripping his seat. He looked to Dirk, but looked away as soon as he saw that he was still frothing at the mouth. 

“How the hell was he shot in the head from this high up?” Jade exclaimed. She climbed back the the passenger seats and urged Dave to stand up. He did but immediately sat back down next to Dirk. She lifted the seat up and pulled out a large case. When she sat it down, the whole chopper jerked to the right and Jade yelped. 

“Jake, can you please hurry and gain control of this tin can?” Jade ordered. Dave bit his lower lip and started to look around for a seat belt. 

“Don’t count on it, Corporal. He couldn’t handle writing simple English, don’t expect him to know how to fly this thing.” Dirk quipped. 

“Hey! Why don’t you shut your trap, Strider? I know what I’m doing! Are you really mad at me for not texting you? You sound like a disappointed first date!” Jake yelled over the alarm. Was it getting louder? 

Dave looked down. Jade had opened the case and inside was a _large_ gun. It was a rifle almost as tall as Jade herself. It was a bolt action sniper. Jade grabbed a big scope and put it on the top, then a big magazine and put it on the bottom. Dave didn’t know a lot about guns, but he knew that this one could do a lot of damage. 

“Jake, I’m opening a door; you better have this thing stable!”

“Just about, boss,” he answered. Dave was thinking it was a little too quick. Was Jake lying or was Dave paranoid? These were the real questions. 

Dave scooted far away from the large door, or the whole side of the aircraft, that Jade opened. Luckily, it was on Dirk’s side. She put the gun to her shoulder and started to look through the air through the scope. Jade was blessed with superhuman strength due to a certain serum that she has been taking since she was about twelve. She could lift that gun with ease. 

“There are no other aircrafts in the air. What the hell shot at us?”

“It couldn’t have come from he ground,” Dirk said. Well, it was hard to tell if he was asking a question or making a statement. He was probably just thinking outloud again. Jade took it as a question. 

“I dunno if there’s a weapon that powerful. They shot the pilot in the head with one shot. It was either lucky or someone has a weapon that I really need.” she got a small smile on her face that made her seem a little insane. 

“So you think there’s another aircraft? I’ll look.” Dirk started to type someone thing but the chopper bounced in the air. 

“Don’t try to take over, Strider! This isn’t your adventure,” Jake was still struggling to take control of the chopper. 

 _Ohgodohgodohgodohgod_ Dave chanted in his head. This was crazy. Jacob had said Jake was a licensed pilot. Why was he having trouble getting control of his family’s helicopter? He was too afraid that the craft would bounce harshly in the air again to ask. He kept busy with holding on. 

“Why don’t you worry about getting control of this thing?” Dirk shot back. 

“The pilot is laying on something! I can’t take control of it,” he started to try and push the slumped over body away from something, but with the center console and small, raised board of buttons in the way, he was having trouble doing it without pushing one. 

“Jake, are we losing altitude?” Jade took the scope away from her eye and shot a look of panic to her cousin. Jake looked at the dashboard and started to curse under his breath. 

“Dammit, English!” Dirk yelps when there was another bounce. It brought Dave’s own ass up, then down roughly on the metal bench. He winced and looked horridly to Dirk. 

“This isn't funny, Jake! Find a way to over ride the pilot’s button mashing from beyond the grave.” Jade stood up and gracefully walked around the cabin to put her sniper rifle away. But, she didn't get to do that when the aircraft bounced once more.  

“I can do it.” Dirk said. 

“No way! you stay out of the system, Strider. You’ve caused enough trouble.” 

“Me? This isn’t my fault, Jake! Jesus, just chill and let me work!” Dirk was, again, not looking at Jake. He instead stared tot type into the tablet. 

“Hal, try to get into the-”

“Dammit, Strider! Stop!” Jake reached around and tried to grab Dirk’s tablet. Even if he could catch the master of speed, it still wouldn’t have mattered. Dirk still had his visors and, therefore, Hal. 

Dirk was suddenly across from Dave, his right foot resting on his left knee and his tablet resting on his lifted leg. There were lines of red and orange code as well as a chat client window opened, red and orange text going back and forth. 

“Jake, shut up.” Jade finally ordered. “Both of you stop this; now is not the time.” 

The air was more tense and silent. Finally, the alarm had stopped and Dirk had stopped typing. 

“Try it now.” he mumbled. Jake looked back out the windshield and took the joy stick. The chopper started to rise and they were safe in the air again. 

“Now all you have to do is try not to get shot.” Dirk jested. But, it still didn’t make anyone laugh. They were silent the rest of the ride, Jade with a gun at the ready. 

 


	6. Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN AM I SORRY. I don't know if people like totally forgot about this but I DIDN'T I SWEAR. Here's the next chapter. I hope that you enjoy it, I've been working hard, and now I think I have the whole story in order, so it shouldn't take this long for the next chapter!

Chapter 6

_Mother_

 

 

“Dave Strider! I didn’t think I’d get to see you on this little trip!” Rosanna Lalonde was kind, beautiful, a writer, and a taster of fine wines. She was up on the roof with a glass of the deep red liquid now, her black lips smiling while her lavender eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying, that much was obvious. But, the Strider boys played it off. They simply jumped off of the jet and rushed over to embrace their second mother. They were both at least four inches taller than Rosanna, so it looked more like they were embracing her. She wrapped her black-clad arms around the heroes and squeezed, holding onto them tightly, as if she was afraid to let go. 

Unsurprising. 

Dirk was the first to look up and actually give a smile to the woman. “Where’s Roxy?” was the first thing he told her. Rosanna looked at him in mock offense, putting the hand the was around Dirk to her chest while still holding Dave around the waist with he other. 

“Dirk Strider!” her Jersey accent slipped through. It usually did, more so if she was drinking or joking. “You come all this way and the first thing you say to me is ‘Where’s Roxy?’ What about your poor mama, huh?” she raised a blonde eyebrow at her adopted son. Dirk rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. He slung an arm over her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the forehead. 

“Hi, Mom. How are you?” he asked her. She waved him away. 

“Fuget aboudit.” she said, like an old mob boss. “Don’t worry about me, baby. Roxy’s inside waiting for news, she’d love to see you.” she told him while trying not to laugh. Dirk groaned and like that, he was gone. When he was out of sight, Rosanna turned squarely to Dave. 

“How are you, baby?” she asked with a grin plastered on her face. Seeing Dirk and Dave must have been a godsend to her. 

 _Good. Well, getting by._ Dave signed. Rosanna’s smile faltered a bit. 

“Yeah, me too, hun.” she hugged him once more before letting go and looking up to the suddenly awkward members of the Harley-English clan. 

“You must be Corporal Harley and Gentleman.” she took a sip of her wine and was in business mode. Her voice was more serious and she stood up taller. As if she needed it in her heels…

She was here to let these kids know she was in charge.

“Yes ma’am.” Jade stepped forward and saluted Rosanna, her gun hoisted over her shoulder by the strap. “But, you’re welcome to call us Jake and Jade.” she shrugged and smiled a bit. Rosanna gave a small motherly smile. 

“I think I will. Less of a mouthful that way. Would you like to come inside?” she offered. Jade nodded eagerly. 

“Yes please, ma’am. We’ve been in that plane for a long while.” 

“Well you all are in luck, I made snacks.” Dave raised an eyebrow. Rosanna wasn’t a hands-on, in the kitchen type. If he had to guess, she didn’t make the food. Someone else did. Even if she couldn’t leave the house, she wouldn’t bother herself with busy work while Kanaya and Roxy went out to look for Rose. She would be making phone calls, asking around the underground, calling in favors. She wouldn’t learn how to make snacks just because she wasn’t super powered. She was super powered enough; she had connections. 

“That would be swell! Thank you, Madam! I look forward to working with you on this project, and I hope your daughter is safe when we find her.” Jake gave a curt bow, a wink, and waited for Rosanna to say something before getting up. Rosanna rolled her eyes, making Dave beam. 

“Yeah, yeah. Get inside, English,” she waved him in. He got up and looked at the usually very kind woman, for she sounded fairly annoyed with him. Dave had the feeling that it had something to do with Dirk. 

“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered, not bothering to ask questions. Dave had the odd feeling that he knew why Rosanna was mad at him, if she was mad. Maybe she was just bitter. Dave was kind of bitter. 

Dave held out his arm to his other mother. She smiled in her black lipstick, glossy and perfectly applied, and took his arm. 

“My my, I didn’t know Derrick raised such a gentleman!” she observed. Dave scoffed and shook his head. Rosanna laughed, knowing exactly what that meant. “Yeah, I thought not,” she mumbled. She looked forward to her house. 

Roxy, Rose, and Rosanna shared a large house in New York City. It was a big, modern, white house that looked to be only one story, but pretty long. The front part was the living room. It was square and the walls were made of windows. It was an amazing and soaked in all the natural light, even on a cloudy day. It was the epitome of modern architecture. All of the girls had their own rooms, plus Rosanna had an office, Rose and Roxy had a computer room, a basement, and a den that was used for movie and game nights. 

When Dave and Dirk had lived with the Lalondes, Roxy was using her computer for blogging and talking to her other friends on online chats on the Internet, and Rose was writing her wizard stories about magics she couldn’t do yet. Now, Roxy did her hacking and backroads navigations through the dark corners of the web to get contracts and Rose was rarely at the computer, choosing instead to spend her time with Kanaya and the skylines of New York City. 

Rosanna led Dave and the rest of the merry band of Rose’s Rescue Party down from the roof to the door leading into the living room. They went down a spiral staircase that ended a few feet from the breakfast bar. The kitchen and living room smelled like cotton candy and bubblegum perfumes and fake cookies brought to you by the big candle in the corner. Roxy was sitting at the breakfast bar with her laptop. It was a pink glowing Alienware laptop that was probably the fastest machine in the house. Roxy used it for gaming and torrenting movies, but also to contact possible contracts and hacking into hush-hush agencies and gaining information. Right now, it looked like she was running the program that Dirk had showed to Dave through his visor. It showed the the rising and dropping mountains of energy analysis. She stared intently at the screen, merging and separating the graphs, trying to make sense of the information. 

Next to her sat another girl, one with short, curly white hair, who was also staring at the laptop, trying to explain to Roxy the X and Y axes of the graph. She pointed a light brown finger at the screen. 

“Look at this large influx of energy, right a this peak,” she started with a bell-like, light British accent. Roxy groaned. 

“We’ve looked at it so many times!” she whined. Dave stayed quiet, preferring instead to look at Dirk sitting silently behind them. He pointed through them, causing them both to gasp. Dave smirked. Even though Dirk wanted to see Roxy, he was still patient enough to wait to scare her. 

Dirk pointed at the same little mountain that Roxy’s friend was. “If you look at this one closer, Rox, you’ll see that this one is way more powerful than the others,” he stated. He was stating something really obvious, but the look on Roxy’s face was the real star of the show. Her mouth was wide open and her bubblegum eyes were popping out of her head. 

Roxy was a beautiful girl, like her mother, but she looked like hell. She was a bright twenty year old that was a genius, as well a complete BAMF. Beauty guru, gamer, hacker, gymnast, sharp shooter, you name it. Roxy was her own sidekick. But now, she was looking over sciences she didn’t quite grasp because her little sister was missing. Her little baby sister was in danger and she was only able to sit at a computer and patrol the night skies because she couldn’t do anything else. She had bags under her eyes, smudged mascara and eyeliner, and old, faded black lipstick still on her face. Her platinum hair, that was shoulder blade length that curled up toward her ears, was flat and it looked like she hasn’t brushed it out for about as many days as she hasn’t slept. 

“D-Dirk?!” she exclaimed. She hopped off the red shiny bar stool she was sitting on and lunged at Dirk, wrapping her arms around his neck. He spun her around, taking her feet off the ground. She was laughing so hard that Dave thought she would break into tears on the spot. Like Rosanna, this was probably a breath of fresh air for Roxy. He set her down, a smile finally on his face. 

“Hey, Ro-Lal.” He used the nickname he gave her through their chatting over PesterChum. She looked up at him with a beaming smile. She looked so happy. Dave coughed, to get her attention. She looked over, curious as the cat on her shirt, a grey sweatshirt that hung off her left shoulder, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, but the baggy fabric flipped over the wristbands and was covering half of her lower arm. When she saw Dave, she squealed. 

“Dave!” she shrieked, running over to her younger adopted brother. She was three years older than him and about as tall as him, so he was able to comfortably hug her, squeezing her tight, as if he was afraid to let go. 

Which, honestly, wasn’t that far off. Roxy was as susceptible to the magic Rose was wielding as Rose herself, being her older sister. Roxy could just as easily be the one that was on the island, possibly in terrible pain and not Rose. He would have been just as worried and just as sad if it was Roxy instead of Rose. 

When Dave let her go, he took a small step back and started signing. 

_You look like shit, Sis._

Thankfully, this made her laugh, wiping away a tear. 

“Thanks, kiddo. I’ve been up for a few days. Ain’t had that much time to sleep between outdoor patrol and snooping the ‘Net every chance I got.” She winked. Dave’s eyes got wide behind his visor. 

 _You should sleep._ He declared. Roxy chuckled. She crossed her arms over her sweatshirt and smirked. It was, for lack of a better word, _tired_. Her whole body slouched a bit, almost unnoticeable. Her skin had lost some of its color and the bags under her eyes looked like fresh bruises. Her bubblegum colored eyes, an ungodly shade on anyone that _wasn’t_ Roxy, lost their glow that made her impossible to miss. That, paired with the old and worn black leggings and neon pink ankle socks, she looked stressed, depressed, and under dressed. 

“If I could, I would,” she said. Despite the smirk, it was sad. She was sad. She was so ready to get her sister back and sleep. That’s what it sounded like. She was ready to lay down with Rose and never let go and never wake up to simply make sure this never happens again. Frankly, Dave had the same thought. He wanted to sleep and let Rose come home and sleep. 

“My my, if it isn’t the splendiferous Roxy Lalonde,” the obnoxious voice that Dave had come to _really_ dislike sounded from a corner in the living room, behind the spiral staircase. 

Jake had been poking around in the Lalonde’s house while everyone was having the Stri-londe reunion. He sounded… arrogant. Like, he knew something and he wanted everyone to know it. But, what could he possibly know about Roxy that wasn’t known here, with her family? God, he was so annoying. Dave was about ready to punch him in the bucktoothed grin. He would of, if not for Jade standing right behind him. 

Roxy spun around and stared right into the emerald eyes of English. She glowered, the dull glow in her eyes returning in the form of a hazy inferno that would have, on a good day, made English piss his pants. 

“Diiiiiiirrrk…” she called out, turning her head to Dave’s older brother, but not taking her eyes off of Jake. She obviously wanted answers. 

“I don’t know. He showed up with Corporal Harley,” he said, his voice as bitter as Roxy’s own. They were in on the little joke. Both of them. This whole time, there was something that they all knew; Dave and Jade were on the outside looking in. 

Roxy’s head shot over to Dave, but her eyes looked past him. Straight to Jade. She softened her glare to look into Jade’s acid eyes. 

“You’re Harley?” she asked, trying to keep the disdain out of her voice. Jade wasn’t fazed. It was amazing. But, Dave thought that if anyone could take Roxy, it was the super soldier. 

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m Jade Harley. I’m one of Dave and Rose’s friends, actually.” 

“Never heard of you. But, then again, Rosie liked to keep to herself and Dave’s kind of a… quiet one, you could call it, heh heh,” Roxy chuckled. “How in the heck are you related to English?” she asked. 

“Oh, we’re second cousins, but we grew up in the same house with my grandpa and his grandma,” Jade explained. Roxy didn’t seem all that interested. Her gaze was slowly returning to Jake. 

“Yeah, uh-huh…” she said, trailing off, as if lost in thought. Dave watched the interaction. He also watched Dirk. He saw that while Roxy’s friend looked _unbelievably_ uncomfortable, Dirk wasn’t super tense, as he’d been the past couple days. He was staring at Jake. He was just staring at him, trying to read the smirk on the treasure hunter’s face. When Jake looked over at him, Dirk was quick enough to look like he was looking at Roxy’s friend.

“Rox, that’s enough,” Dirk said sternly. Roxy snapped out of her thoughts, her dulled bubblegum eyes looking to her adopted brother in confusion. “You have a friend that hasn’t been introduced to the group, yet. She looks real uncomfortable, too,” Dirk pointed out. 

“Oh shi- Right! You guys, this is Calliope!” she rushed over to her shy friend and hoisted her out of the bar stool to stand up and face everyone. She had bright green eyes, like Jade, and a petite frame. She had a milky chocolate pallor with rosy cheeks. Her silvery blonde curls and cowlicks framed her rounded face and really matched well with all of the bright whites and light colors of Roxy’s house. She wore a white button up shirt under a dark, forest green long sleeved sweater and a lighter green pleated skirt with white socks and black Mary Janes. She was a few inches shorter than Roxy, and over all just smaller. Dave’s eyebrow raised. 

He had known Roxy almost all of his life and he had never heard of Calliope. Not from Roxy, Rose, or even Dirk, who would be _extremely_ jealous if his best friend was best friends with someone else. 

Dave snickered at the thought. Calliope chucked at Roxy’s very “smooth” intro, and waved her away. 

“Oh, posh. Callie is just fine, Loves,” she told everyone. Jake decided to chime in, stomping over to Callie with his hand out stretched. Dave was surprised the small girl didn’t scream and hide behind Roxy to get away from the loud islander. 

“And how! What a pleasure it is to meet you, miss Callie! I’m Jake English, adventurer extraordinaire!” he stopped in front of her and waited for her to take his hand. She did so welcomely. Her hand looked so much smaller and daintier than English’s. Just seeing her hand in his gave Dave some sense of just how… petite this girl was, for lack of a better word. 

“Pleasure to meet you too, Mr. English,” she said politely, her voice a small set of twinkling bells, like Tinker Bell from _Peter Pan_. Well, she had the color scheme for it, Dave thought. 

Dave looked over in enough time to see Roxy roll her eyes at the scene. Dave snickered. He was glad Roxy was as fed up with Jake as Dave himself. It was refreshing. 

“Um, you guys, I really think we should be getting to business,” Jade spoke up from behind Dave. He turned around and nodded to the Corporal.

“Ah, righty-o! Ms. Lalonde, allow me to explain-“

“No need, hun. My baby’s given me all the info I need.” Rosanna was holding a glass tablet in her hand. It was an invention of Dirk’s. It was basically a sheet of bullet and shatter proof glass with micro LED projectors on the back side, and then a steel casing on the bottom with the real projector. It seemed like something useless, but it was smaller and more compact than a normal iPad or something, plus it looked cooler, and the graphics and software was _way_ more advanced. 

  Rosanna was reading the case file and all of the new information on the tablet. Dirk was standing next to her; Dave hadn’t even realized his brother had moved from his position next to Roxy. But, no surprise there. 

“Alright, so let me get this straight,” Rosanna started, looking up from the tablet. She looked slightly confused, but her eyes held a tinge of hope. It was a fresh look on her tear stained face and blurry eyes. “Rosie is on an island in the middle of the Atlantic that appears every few years because of tectonic plate movements; she ran away there and now there are weird spikes of magic coming from that area, giving you a good idea of where she is, and now all of you kiddos are gonna take Harley’s yacht to the island with Gentleman as the tour guide, Corporal Harley as the lead, and Hi-Fi and Spitfire as the hired muscle?” she recited in one breath. After a large breath, she slowly exhaled and smirked. “What a mouthful…” she mumbled. 

“Yeah, basically,” Dirk answered her. 

“I’m actually just the guide, ma’am…” Jake chimed in. Callie covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. Jade snorted. 

“You’re basically a glorified tour guide, Cuz’,” she told him. He deflated and stayed silent. Dave wanted to give Jade a high five, but he thought it unprofessional, so he’d save it for later. When Rose was near to hear about it. 

“Alright, let’s get you kiddos some supplies. I’m sure Jacob told ya’ I got some heavy artillery…” Rosanna murmured the last part. But, of course, Dave and Jade heard it. Jade instantly lit up. 

“Heavy artillery, you say?” Dave looked to see the stars in her eyes. She was glowing, ready to see what kind of heavy fire power Mama had in store for them. 

“Oh honey.” Rosanna clicked her tongue. “I got the heaviest.” She started to walk to the stairs. Under the rug at the foot of the spiral staircase, there was a door that was hidden to all that didn’t know about it. It was really just the dignified basement door. 

Rosanna removed the rug and opened the door. Through it, the white metal stairs continued under the house. She looked to the posse and raised a blonde eyebrow. 

“Ya’ comin’? or am I gonna have to haul all of this junk up here on my own?” she inquired. Jade squealed and scurried over to follow the matriarch of the Lalonde house down to the armory. Jake chuckled and looked to Callie. 

“Are you coming, Love?” he asked her. She shook her head, her curls swaying and bouncing with the movement. 

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m going to see if I can crack any more of this code Dirk sent Roxy,” she answered politely. He shrugged and started to make his way down the stairs. 

“Suit yourself!” he called up to her as his heavy boots _clanked_ down the metal stairway. When his dark hair disappeared under the thick floors, Roxy let out a breath that Dave hadn’t even realized she was holding. She sounded so exasperated. She glared at Dirk, but stopped after a fraction of a second, as if she didn’t have the heart. 

“I can’t believe Derrick would even let him step into your house, Dirky,” she said bluntly. Dave blinked. He saw Dirk’s eyes dart from Roxy to Dave, as if trying to signal to her that he was here. Really, Dave was trying to stay as silent as possible so that Roxy wouldn’t realize he was here and make him leave or stop talking. 

“He didn’t really have a choice,” Dirk said slowly, choosing his words carefully. Roxy ran a hand through the greasy strands of her hair. After hitting a couple of tangles, she pulled it out and looked at it with disgust, then returned to her conversation. 

“They could have gotten someone else! This is fuckin’ ridic’, D.”

“He’s the best in the business, Rox,” Dirk pointed out. Roxy scoffed. 

“Yeah, the business of fucking up relationships,” she huffed. Dave’s eyes widened. 

“He was your friend once, Ro-Lal,” Dirk said in a small voice. Dave suddenly felt a little more enlightened. Maybe the reason Dirk and Rox hated Jake wasn’t because he was annoying, but because he and Roxy used to be friends and Jake somehow fucked it up. After thinking for a moment Dave thought it was highly likely. Jake was an asshole. Roxy had told Dave time and time again; she hates assholes and the only one she could deal with is the one and only D-Stri. 

“Yeah, then he fucked up. The only way he can fix it now is if he fixes it with you. The only way I’ll forgive that lil’ shit is if you give me the okay.” She gives him a thumbs up. “You know I’ve been on your side this whole time, hun. I ain’t quitin’ now because he shows up and and shows off his pretty emerald greens to my face and smiles his dorky ass smile to try and make it all better.” She then adds mumbled nonsense. Dave knows it’s nonsense because when he goes to listen into it, it’s literally her mumbling unintelligible syllables in tongues. 

Dirk chuckles. “I don’t think things’ll ever get better,” he says sadly. 

“Aw, pish-posh, Love,” Callie supplemented. Everyone in the room immediately went on to look at her, almost forgetting she was here. Her sing-song voice seemed so out of place with the melancholy conversation that Dave almost visibly grimaced. “Things always get better,” she added. 

Dave was a bit shocked by this level of cheeriness and hopefulness. Someone this… cute shouldn’t be trusted, but here he was, trusting her. She was Roxy’s friend, and Roxy’s judge of character was not something to be taken lightly. Exhibit A, Jake English. 

“You could say that,” Dirk sighed, then flashed out of the room. Dave thought it was because he didn’t want any of Callie’s good mood to rub off on him. Dirk liked to brood, it was kind of his thing. He assumed he went down with Rosanna to pick out what he liked to call “Insurance”. Spitfire didn’t carry a gun unless he wasn’t sure about the mission. He probably lost a little of his confidence when he almost fell off the building, then even more when Bro wanted to act like they weren’t good enough to try and find Rose. 

“Dirk’s been really out of sorts, lately, Davey,” Roxy murmured. Dave thought she was going to cry. But she was Roxy Lalonde; she didn’t cry. 

 _I don’t know._ Dave signed. Roxy raised her eyebrow, looking unconvinced.

“You’re telling me you don’t know what happened?” 

_That’s exactly what I’m telling you._

“Well damn. I’m not gonna then. Apparently, Dirk doesn’t think that his business is Mini D-Stri’s business, and I’m gonna respect that.” She crossed her sweater clad arms over her chest. Dave’s shoulders slumped. 

_Really?_

“Yup. Now, what can you tell me about him almost falling off a building?” she quickly changed to subject. Dave would have been down to talk about it, except Callie seemed to tense up at the mention of it. 

 _I wasn’t there, but I think it shook him up._ Dave replied. 

Roxy opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Callie. 

“I know what happened,” she said, her voice a meek squeak. 

“What was that, Callie?” Roxy looked to her, almost unaware that she said anything. Dave heard her, and now he wanted to know what she knew. 

 _What happened?_ he signed, but Callie didn’t know and Roxy wasn’t paying attention. These were the times when Dave was _very_ irritated. Obviously a little more than _irritated_. 

“I… I know what happened,” she said, a little louder this time. Roxy’s eyes widened, and Dave could see the red veins in her eyes, indicating her decrease in hours slept. 

“Well what?” Roxy interrogated. “What happened?”

Callie paused for a moment, and Dave wanted to scream. He couldn’t, but this was where he wanted to yell at the smaller girl for keeping him waiting. He only wanted answers, not cryptic bullshit that made him feel like she didn’t actually know what the hell she was talking about. 

Callie looked to Dave, her eyes big and misty, almost like she was about to cry. He felt a little bad about being angry at her, but this was still taking _too long._

“You… you said your names were Hi-Fi and Spitfire? You wouldn’t happen to be from Texas, would you?” she asked in a small, mouse-like voice, matching her shrinking body. 

Dave nodded. 

“Yeah, they are. What’s this about, Callie?” Roxy clarified, seeing as Callie was looking down. Dave couldn’t identify the look in her eyes; her white curls were hiding the acid pools. 

“I have an older brother, you see. He’s not exactly, well, he’s not a good person at all,” she started. Roxy was looking at Callie, but when Dave snapped, she instantly was looking at him. 

 _Tell her to hurry._ he signed. Roxy frowned. 

 _Be patient._ she signed back. 

“We don’t live together anymore because Cal and I are quite different. Cal is a cruel spirit that will do anything to get what he wants. He’s like you and your brother, Dave. He’s gifted.” she continued. Dave’s eyebrows raised. Roxy looked shocked as well. 

“What do you mean, Callie?” 

“Cal has the power to take another being’s powers. It can be used for good or extreme evil. Sadly, my brother chose the latter. He has been trying to collect as many gifts as he can to get to me.” Callie’s voice cracked at the end, like she was going to cry. Roxy glided to her side and put an arm around her. 

“Why does he want you?” Roxy pried. Dave was torn; it felt like Callie was baiting her to ask questions and drag the whole thing out, but but the looks of it, this was something that was actually really scary to talk about. 

“He thinks… Well, he got it in his head that I have the power to manipulate probability. I told him that was stupid, obviously foolish,” she chuckled, but sniffed and wiped a tear that had escaped its lime colored prison. 

“Can you?” Roxy seemed to be taken back when hearing this. It seemed pretty clear that Callie hadn’t been honest to hear friend. 

“Of course not! But Cal thought so. Cal got it in his head that I was our parent’s favorite and it was because of this ability. He claimed that it only worked if I believed it.” she scoffed. “He was a fool. He was always a troublemaker… But he couldn’t see that that’s why our parents allowed me more privileges. I tried my best to be a good daughter when he strived to be a bad son.”

“That’s… terrible, Callie.” Roxy sounded like she didn’t know what to say. Callie waved her away. 

“It’s fine. I moved away from my father and brother when I was about eight. All of his talk of taking my so-called ‘gift’ was putting me in danger. My parents knew that he was young and had little control over his gift, so if I turned out not to be gifted, as I am not, then he could have seriously hurt me. So, my brother moved to Texas and I was taken far away to England, for a time. When I returned, I lived in New York, and that’s how I met Roxy. Upon my return, I learned my brother was being detained for him crimes that he had committed while I was away.” Callie stopped for a moment to gather her bearings. 

“He was being held in Texas and was taken down but the duo Hi-Fi and Spitfire,” Callie whispered the last part. 

But, Dave didn’t need to hear it. He was there. He knew who this guy was, he put the freak in a cell himself. Dirk had made the collar that could keep him from using any of his powers. he remembered the guy, but not as Cal. 

His name was Caliborn. 

“Why does he need your supposed power so bad, anyway!? Seems to me has enough.” Roxy sounded furious. She was holding onto Callie tighter and eye sleep deprived eyes darted around to the entries and exits of the house, as if Cal might attack at any moment. 

“Because, he believes that it’s real. He thinks that if he gets the gift, he’ll be able to take over the Unites States with ease simply because he believes it.” Callie explained. 

“That’s bull. Why just the U.S?” 

“Because, being in control of one of the biggest military powers in the world guarantees some world domination.” Callie hissed. “That’s what he always said…”

Dave snapped and Roxy’s head faced him again.

 _Did Cal push Dirk?_ he asked. Roxy nodded. 

“Was Cal the one that pushed Dirk?” Roxy relayed the message to Callie. The lighter blonde looked up, but not to Roxy. She looked to Dave. She had a sad, apologetic look in her eyes, and she suddenly looked tired.

“Yes,” she almost seemed to wheeze the single word. But, the one word was enough to make Dave tense up. “And I believe he’s going to come after you and your brother once more, Dave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those who have read! I really appreciate all of the views and support!  
> You know the drill; R&R and PLEASE support the original content!


	7. Simple Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha Sorry for the wait. Well it's done, and it's done a little differently, so I hope that's me making up for the fact it's a little shorter than the other chapters. Thanks for joining me on this, this arc is about three-four chapters away from being finished, then the next one. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7

_Simple Song_

 

As soon as we got on the boat, Dave and Jade fell asleep in the lower cabin. While at Rosanna’s, we had grabbed weapons, food, water, and one of her spare generators. We didn’t want to risk running out of battery on all of the tech we had. It would have been a dangerous game; my tech was the only thing that was going to lead us to Rose before something unexpectedly dreadful happened. 

But, the whole trip had been unexpectedly _dreadful_ , and that was putting it lightly. There had been fights; someone had died. There was no point in complaining, however. I had fought to go on the trip, for both Dave and I. We wanted to be the ones to save Rose from this unanticipated chaos that was her adeptness to a certain type of magick that she probably shouldn’t have tried to dabble in in the first place. 

Then, there was the obviously horrific fact that I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering to the English brat before darting away when he tried to catch me. I couldn’t curb the urge to talk to him.

We both had to stay above on the upper deck because Jade and Dave were asleep; they were both highly sensitive in the hearing department and even me going down there may be enough to wake them. So, I was sitting on a bench in the bow of the boat, which was very front heavy. The flying bridge, which looked kind of like a cockpit of a plane from here, was covered by its own roof and held the cause of all my problems. 

My arms rested on the gunwale and I looked out to sea. The Atlantic was cold and a sort of gray-blue. It looked like it went on forever. The fog and gray skies were actually fairly aesthetically pleasing and while it made everything colder, it made the scenery distracting enough to make the trip bearable. 

“Are you cold?” Jake asked. And like that, the ride had suddenly gotten worse. My lips wanted to sneer and my head hurt again. The salt in the air was unreasonable all of a sudden and the biting chill that was only on my face and ears, something I was trying to ignore, was crystal clear to my nerves. Jake sounded as bitter as the ocean water. He was probably still mad about the helicopter altercation. Which, he had no right to be, in my opinion. 

“No,” I replied. The nanos in the suits controlled the temperature. I don’t know why I was wasting words on him other than it was rude to ignore people. I decided to talk, instead, to myself. I would have a  much more riveting conversation with Hal than with the water in the ocean or the selfish idiot at the wheel. 

 

 **\--timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] began pestering timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] at 19:08--**

**TT: He sounds angry, Hal.**

**TT: Well, you did get kind of, oh what’s the word for it…**

**TT: Carried away, during your last altercation.**

**TT: What are you talking about?**

**TT: Dave asked you a simple question. Then, all of a sudden, you went ballistic and gave the wannabe Jim Hawkins an opening.**

**TT: Plus, it kind of seemed like you wanted it to go down that way so you could be cryptic and shit.**

**TT: Never have I ever heard you say “and shit”.**

**TT: Plus, you’re an idiot. I didn’t go “ballistic” and I didn’t create an opening for the argument to begin. I was just…**

**TT: Relaying your feelings? As if.**

**TT: Bite me, Hal.**

**TT: I would but, alas, my young master has yet to give me a body.**

**TT: God, you’re so annoying.**

**TT: Then why talk to me?**

**TT: Because, you’re exponentially better than him.**

**TT: And yet, you’ve done nothing to make it better.**

**\--timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [** **TT** **] at 19:10--**

 

I immediately exited the chat client and crossed my arms. Despite Hal having unlimited access to most all information, he wasn’t always correct. Sometimes, he’d even say things to play his own self-fulfilling game. I was sure this was one of those times. Oddly enough, though I was sure, I could still feel the gross, bitter, ghastly monster of self-doubt chew at the pit of my stomach and the back of my mind. Hal wasn’t right, but what if I was wrong?

I don’t even know what I’m thinking anymore. The scary part was that it was reminiscent of how Jake made me feel when I knew him to be a _much_ better person. I… I kind of wanted that Jake back. 

I looked back to him. I knew I could look away quick enough if he tried to catch me. He was behind the windshield of the flying bridge, steering the wheel to make sure we all stayed on course. His thick scarf was tied even tighter around his neck and he's sleeves were rolled down to protect his arms from the cold. He had told me many times in the past that he hated the cold and liked Texas because he was so used to the hot weather. His eyes were sort of squinted behind his glasses, trying to see through the fog, thick enough to be cut with a knife. Just like the tension. 

I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin between them. It was kind of painful. He looked kind of angry. But, that could have just been the squinting. I didn’t know. It was kind of hard to pick up what he was thinking. All I had was one agitated sounding vocal cue and an indistinguishable facial expression. I remembered when we were still best friends and we would talk nearly everyday. He was happy, albeit a bit under-confident. But, he was content; Roxy and I had been his best friends. We were all comfortable with each other and safe.

Everything was different now. When he left four years ago, I hadn’t heard from him. Next thing I know, he was in Iran searching for the tomb of a king. This was apparently the reason he left. But, it wasn’t good enough for me. He told me nothing and discontinued all conversation with me. It was… heartbreaking, to put it all in one word. And now, Roxy was mad at him to boot. 

It looked like he was hiding the hurt pretty well, a wicked voice in the back of my head sneered. I frowned. The truth was, I didn’t know. I didn’t know if he was hiding it o if he just didn’t care. It really looked like the latter, but there was no way of knowing. Roxy hadn’t seemed to pick up on anything, so I assumed the worst; he didn’t care about the relationships and it was all fun and games as long as he got to play treasure hunter at the end of the day. 

“What?” a voice demanded. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked around, hoping that the voice was not the only other male on the yacht that could speak. I sluggishly focused back on Jake, my stomach churning. 

“You were staring,” he bluntly informed me. I rolled my eyes. 

“I was thinking,” I said, sparring him the details, praying he would leave it at that. There was a silence, and I knew he would, so I relaxed. 

“About what?” 

His words made me tense and I could feel myself getting nauseous. I don’t know if it was the waves or the impending doom-like anger that was sure to cloud my mind. But, I was a Strider. That was something that I couldn’t show. Bro would have kicked my ass if he had see what went down on the chopper. I thought to myself, over and over, _You’re sea sick,_ like a mantra. 

“It doesn’t matter,” I mumble. I was basically sending him mind messages to just let it go. Leave it at that. Shut up and drive the damn oversized boat. 

“I mean, it matters to me,” he said. He sounded both sure and unsure of his words. It made my chest hurt and I did not like it. I never thought he would be the one to want to fix things. I mean, I know it was his mistake and all, but I thought he would want me to do something about it. I guess, in time, I would have. 

But now I have no time and I either risk what little hope our relationship had, or talk about something that I’m really not ready to talk about. I’m not even remotely in the mood. 

He said it mattered. I think that’s what’s giving me a hard time, what’s closing off my airways and making my heart beat at uncomfortable and violent speeds. 

“Are you lying?” I said, quietly. I wanted him to see that I didn’t want to talk. I was kind of wanting him to… wait. Just wait. I still needed to breathe. 

“What?” he answered. I heard a click, then his clunky, boot-clad foot steps. They edged closer to me, just like I edged closer to the railing, thinking that if I threw myself off, then it would distract him long enough to forget we were having the conversation at all. 

When he sat himself next to me, it was too late. I just hugged my knees tighter and looked out to the sea. I wasn’t going to look at him. 

“Dirk, c’mon. Talk to me. I know you want to. I can see it.” His voice was soft, almost a coo, as if he was coaxing me to do his bidding. At a time, that might have worked. But, as of right now, I was trying to shut down. I didn’t want to talk to him now, just like he didn’t want to talk to me for four years. 

 _Obviously you want to talk,_ a grossly rational voice told me. _Or you wouldn’t have answered him_.

It was right. My meek sentence was proof enough that I wanted to get my two cents in, and it brought him over here for an actual, face to face conversation. Here he was, waiting patiently for me to repeat it and maybe, just maybe, be an adult for once. 

The air was growing thick my gut told me it wasn’t the fog. I was sitting in a ball trying to calm myself down and Jake was waiting for me to man up and talk to him. So, I did. 

“I said, are you lying?” my voice was more confident, but my entire body was shaking. I don’t know how I did it. 

He scoffs. “Of course not.” 

I was skeptical. I had a hard time believing him on the chopper and I was having a hard time believing him now. 

“How can I believe you?” I was at the point where I was having a hard time keeping my cool visage. The apathetic appearance was a ruse, and I could feel it crumbling. I was falling into the void of emotions that I’d rather not be consumed by. In fact, I’d rather leave it alone to stew for a few more decades. 

“Really, Dirk? Are we really going to do this right now?” he asked, almost offended that I’d even said anything. I honestly wished I hadn’t. 

I shrug. “You asked.”

“I asked what you were thinking about, not-”

“Not if I could trust you? Yeah, I know. Because you know that I know the answer to that one,” I interrupt, but still keep my voice low and my eyes hooded and away from his. The dark water was all I saw. I couldn’t see what face he was making, if he was even making one. For all I knew, he’d gotten good at hiding things. 

“Dirk, please. I want to work it out. I want to be your friend again,” he said. He almost sounded sad, and I almost wanted to look over to see if his face betrayed his lies. 

“Should have thought about that about four years earlier,” I mumble. He groans. 

“How long are you going to stay on that damn thing?” his voice was getting louder and I could feel my shoulders getting tenser. This was a load of stress I don’t think either of us needed. 

“As long as it takes for you to realize that you’re wrong.” Despite not needing stress, I kept going. Maybe Hal was right after all. 

“You’re holding on to the past, Strider. We could be past this. We could be friends again,” he coos once more, trying to coax me into giving in. I wasn’t going to, that much was obvious. 

“I want to be friend, Jake. I do. But if that’s how you treat your friends nowadays, I think I’ll live with the fond memories, thank you very much.” I sunk down lower into myself, my head falling into my knees. 

“What- what a load of horse shit, Strider!” Jake exclaimed. I winced. 

“You’ve changed, Jake. It’s obvious. The Jake that I…” I had to catch myself and rethink for a second. I stumbled, a rookie mistake. “That I knew would have said ‘that’s baloney’ or something dumb like that. You’re different now, Jake.” I sigh and lift my head up. I pull up my visor and look at him, dead in the eyes. It was both a feeling of great regret and a total rush, being this close to his leering eyes, his eyelashes thick and unblinking. Through it, a big red “Abort Mission!” sign flashed in the back of my mind. I hadn’t realized he was this close when he sat down, and now I was close enough to kiss-

When I looked at him, he sucked in a breath and I thought that, for a millisecond, I could see the old doe-eyed Jake English. I bet he thought I didn’t see it; it went by so fast. But, he forgets; I’m the fastest. 

“I want you to see it,” I whisper. I see him tense up and I don’t know if he’s about to swing or if he’s about as… _anxious_ as I am. It’s been a long time since I was this close to him. 

Everything was still. I didn’t move, he didn’t move, and it felt like the boat wasn’t moving, either. It was eerie and almost tantalizing. I could hardly breath, and it looked like Jake’s scarf was moving up and down at ragged, uneven rates. His mouth was clenched shut and his hand was gripping the railing, as if to steady himself on the uneven sea. Maybe he didn’t feel like we were still. Maybe he felt like the rocking was unending and merciless. Maybe his stomach was doing flips and failing to stick the landing, making the poor boy queasy on already exceptionally shitty terrain. 

I hated that I didn’t want to look away. 

It was Jake that looked away first. I felt like it was a sign, but it probably wasn’t relaxing having a pair of mutant colored eyes stare you down and be so close that they could see the light scars around your face that no-one should be able to see unless they were close enough to kiss you, which was too damn close for Mr. English. 

“You know I hate when you do that, Dirk,” he muttered. It was true, Jake did hate it. He said it felt like I was reading his mind, like Bro did. I was trying to stare deep into the darkest parts of his psyche and drag out whatever nasty little secrets Jake liked to keep. He never stared at Bro for more than a second. 

“Why, Jake? What do you have to hide?” I ask before I can stop myself. I wanted him to go back to the boat because this conversation felt like the Titanic; it was going down and drowning us. Fast. 

“Nothing!” he was quick to defend himself. “It’s just… it makes me feel ill at ease, is all,” he mumbled, sounding almost defeated. 

“Don’t lie to me, Jake. You’ve been doing that for too long,” I accuse. I was only about 80% sure that this would work. 

His head shot back up and he looked torn and a little bit devastated. I kept from biting my lip so as not to give away my unsureness. I didn’t know if his eyes were misty from the ocean air or if I was at fault. He searched my face like he seemed to be searching for the words to say. 

“You think I’ve been lying to you all these years? Did you think that everything, all of it-”

“Jake, calm down.”

“-you thought it was all a lie?” his voice was getting louder and there was a chance that we’d wake up the superhuman ears. 

“I… I don’t really know, Jake. There were times when I thought everything was fine. Then you left and I didn’t hear from you or your cousin, so I assumed you didn’t want me to be in your life anymore. I thought you wanted to let go. So, I did.” 

“What!? That’s ridiculous, Dirk!” he exploded. I shrank back and my eyes flick over to the flying bridge to see if one of the other passengers had awoken during the dispute. I didn’t want this to be my brother’s business. Or Jade’s. 

But, a part of me really wanted them to come up here. I despised having this conversation. It was like being locked in a room with someone I wasn’t dying to talk to, and he was sitting me down talk to him about feelings and thoughts, like a shrink. I had spent four years embracing the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy about him, and now here he was, in the flesh and wanting me to talk about how I was thinking he was an awful person and all. 

“Really? Because, it didn’t seem that ridiculous to me.” I said, while still looking at the bridge. 

“What in the hell are you looking at? We’re having a conversation, for Christ’s sake!” he yells at me. I flinch. I wasn’t used to him yelling at me. I wasn’t used to a lot of people yelling at me. 

“Jake, keep your voice down. They haven’t slept in a couple of days-”

“And what about you, eh?” he interrupts. It doesn’t compute. It wasn’t what I had deduced he would have said. From how he was reacting to everything so far, I thought he would say he didn’t care. I have to review what he had said a couple of times in my mind. 

“What?”

“What about you, Dirk?” his voice got softer and he looked like he was calming down. I could feel my heart still beating against my chest and it was still hard to swallow with the lump in my throat. “When was the last time you slept?” he appeared to be genuinely curious, and looked as though he wanted to reach his arm out to touch me, but though that is was better if he didn’t. I didn’t know if I wanted him to or not. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to stare in his eyes any longer. I felt like I was drowning and if I kept going I was surely going to die without any hope of resurfacing or resurrection. I looked down, as if I was ashamed. I wasn’t, I don’t think. 

“Four days ago.” My voice was quiet. I knew where this was going. We’d had this discussion countless times in the past. 

“What? It’s been bloody _four days_ since you’ve had any sleep? God dammit, Dirk!” He throws his arms in the air and shoots up, his anger almost propelling him forward. He paces around the deck for a moment, gathering his thoughts. 

“Jake, you know I-”

“I don’t care what you _think_ you can do, Dirk. I know that your body can’t go that long without sleep. We’ve talked about this, L-”

“ _Jake_.” I shut him down. I know all of this. I knew what he was going to say. Every word. I was just going to save him the oxygen. I rest my head in my arms. He stops pacing and takes a deep breath. 

“Is that why you brought _that_?” he asks. I look up and he gestures to the hand gun at my hip. I swallow and try to breathe past the lump, but every breath was shaky. 

“You know I like insurance when I’m not sure about a mission.” I mutter. He scoffs. 

“You don’t want them to get hurt because you know you haven’t slept and you know that it’ll affect this mission.” he assumes. I stay silent. “Hm. Thought so.”

“That’s no-”

“Dirk you know I despise when you don't take care of yourself.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you do it? It doesn’t make a lick of sense!” he groaned. I don’t even try anymore. If he wanted to assume, then fine. He doesn’t talk for what seems like an eternity, and when he does, he’s finally dropped the subject. 

“Go get the younger ones,” he mutters, not even bothering to look at me as he moves back to the steering wheel. Footsteps alert me to the fact that I am no longer needed. 

“No need Jakey, we’re up,” Jade yawns. I look over, see Dave looking at me, then quickly look away. I didn’t know if he was actually sleeping, and I was in not mood to answer questions if he wasn’t. “What’s up?” she leans on her cousin’s shoulder. Jake points through the mist. 

“Land ho.”


	8. Gaia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahahaha, sorry I have the worst update schedule ever. It's because there is none. Sorry.

 

Chapter 8

_Gaia_

 

Jake and Jade were ordering Dave and Dirk around and Dave was now seeing the soldier Jade had become. He also got to see the full extent of how annoying Jake could be. 

“Dave, can you grab the bags of shells, Chap?” he asked, almost politely. But, it seemed pretty rude to Dave, who already had two crate-like boxes in his arms. 

“Jake, you grab ‘em.” Jade pointed to the holsters and leather pouches the were meant to be strapped onto belts. Jake chuckles, then shrugs. He strolls over to the pile of ammunition supplies and easily picks them up. Dave frowns as he watches, trying to set the boxes down as gently as he could manage. Jade was on the boat still, her compass in her hand, her ears pointed straight up, and her brows furrowed. 

“What are all the boxes filled with?” Dirk voiced the question that Dave had had on his mind since he realized he would be there to do heavy lifting. Dirk set down his own pair of boxes in the white sand. They slid a couple of inches before settling into the earth. 

The beach was small. It only spanned about thirty feet left to right, then forty into the thick forest in front of them. For an island that only showed up every few decades, the forest seems pretty thick, from what Dave could see. His visor could act as an enhancer. He squinted to activate it, but all he could see were leaves and trees. There didn’t seem to be any animals, but he didn’t have infrared vision, like his brother. He snapped, trying to get Dirk’s attention. Dirk was deep into his thoughts, apparently, because he ignored his partner. Dave clicked his tongue in disapproval, then made his snap a _little_ louder. 

Dirk dropped what looked like a sort of tent to the ground to instead cover his ears. It looked like his knees went weak because they bent in on themselves and he almost dropped into the sand next to the folded up tent. 

“Dave!” he exclaimed. Immediately, he cut the sound. Dirk looked over, his annoyance an angry flame in his eyes. Dave took a step back and held his hands up in surrender. 

 _Sorry_ , he signed slowly. _I need you to do something._

“What?!” Dirk yelled. Dave had probably amplified the snap a bit too much. Or, maybe he was just really not pleased with loud sounds fucking with him. 

 _Can you see if there’s anything in the forest?_ he signed, then pointed to the opening of the trees. Dirk looked over, then back to Dave, searching his face, then understanding what he really wanted. He wanted to know if Rose was there. Or her body. 

There were no birds chirping or crowing. There were no leaves rustling. The entire setting was silent, save for the waves of the Atlantic crashing against the sides of the yacht. It was unnerving. Dave tried to hear past the entrance, but there was nothing to hear. 

“Oh, yeah.” Dirk tapped his visor to life and looked through the trees. “Hal, go infra,” he ordered. He scanned through the trees, then sighed disappointedly. 

“Nothing so far, lil’ bro,” he turned back to Dave, who was still trying to hear what wasn’t there. “But, that doesn’t mean she’s dead. I can’t see through the whole jungle. It’s thick as hell.” Dirk tried to assure his brother, but Dave grimaced at the word. He slowly turned back to Dirk. 

 _I didn’t think she was dead,_ he signed. Dirk blinked and froze up. 

“I’m sorry, bro.” He turned away and walked over to another pile of equipment. 

Dave wasn’t all that worried. He knew Rose was alive. He could feel her here. He was worried about how to get to here. 

“Ya’ know, cool kid, this is gonna be kinda like a video game,” Jade poked Dave on the shoulder, making him spin around to see her holding her hands behind her back and leaning in, smiling at him. He raised an eyebrow. She understood immediately. “In team games, you have to have the right team composition, right?” she asks. He nods, following along so far. “And you have to have a good understanding of teamwork? And if you don’t you’ll lose?”

 _Right_ , he signed, then nodded to make sure she completely understood. 

“Well, in this case, we have a good team composition. We have people on defense, and people on offense. If we don’t work together, then we’ll lose,” her expression turns dark, making Dave raise both eyebrows. “But in this case, you don’t lose just a rank; you could lose your life.”

“Try not to scare the kid, Harley,” Dirk said from behind her. Jade smirked. 

“Aw, don’t worry. Dave is hard to scare. He knows what to do.” She waved him away and started to carry a crate to Jake, who was on a phone-shaped object. He seemed to be struggling before Jade took the device out of his hands, effortlessly pushed a few buttons, then handed it back to him. 

“You know,” she stated when he pressed the last button. With that, a canopy tent almost exploded out of a duffle bag. “For how long you’ve been watching me work on these things, you’re useless when the time comes to actually use the,” she giggles, then sets the crate under the cover of the tent while Jake went around and unsecured the rolled up walls from the frame. 

Dave snapped at Dirk, then signed _I bet that’s not all he’s useless with._ That made Dirk cover up a snicker. Of course, with Jade’s speech, he didn’t immediately want to diss Jake with his brother. At least, not while they were looking. 

“What’s all this for, Harley?” Dirk asks, typing in something on his own tablet, secured to his arm guard. He was writing something out, possibly something to Bro, possibly a code of some sort, possibly a steamy argument with Hal. 

“It’s so we can make a game plan before we end up going in there blind. I want to be in and out,” she was using her Corporal Harley voice. 

“We have a drone that’ll fly over top of us and map out as much of the terrain as it can with a quick one-two scan. We have a code that’ll turn it into a digital map as soon as it comes back,” Jake took out a silver briefcase with not one, but two locks on it. This idea seemed to give Dirk an idea. He motioned for Dave to come over to him. Dave was spun around so that Dirk could mess with a compartment in the Hi-Fi suit. 

“This gave me an idea,” Dirk started. “I’m gonna take some of the extra nanos and send them out like a drone through the forest.” To Dave, this was a better idea than the above-the-tress drone. It gave them a better understanding of the land that they’d be walking on. 

“The problems is,” Dirk continued. “The nanos are coded to fix the suits. And they have such small memory. I need to reprogram them real quick, and even then they’ll on be able to map out a small portion of the island before they have to come back and I can clear out the memory.”

“That’ll be fine,” Jade said with a smile. Dave looked back to Dirk, who had a suspicious look in his eyes. “It’s better than nothing.”

“We have to leave in the morning,” Jake looked up into the sky, noticing the setting sun. “Being in unknown territory in the dark is not on the to-do list, chaps.”

“Thanks, Jakey,” Jade nodded, then stopped to think for a second. Dave studied the look in her eyes. There wasn’t something strange in the way her eyes glinted, or the way she tapped her foot in the sand. Once again, Dave thought Dirk was being paranoid. It wasn’t unusual, it was actually a fairly well known Strider trait. 

“We’re going to set up another tent for food. How long will it take for the nanos to be sent out?” Jade questioned, carefully monitoring Jake with the other, much larger drone.

“Probably a couple of hours. I can work through the night-”

“Oh no you won’t,” Jake immediately stops what he’s doing, almost dropping the case on the ground off of the fold out table it was resting on. Dirk is tense; Dave felt his brother freeze behind him. 

“You’re going to get some sleep. I don’t care if you only get one set of nano-drone things out into those wilds,” Jake said sternly, crossing his arms. Dave wanted to throw something at him. Jade cleared her throat, like a warning. Jake turned his stern glare toward his cousin, who matched it with even greater ferocity. 

“I’m sorry English, but who made you boss-man?” she questioned through clenched teeth. Jake took a deep breath, then answered her. 

“Sorry, Corporal. But Strider here-”

“Don’t you dare Jake,” Dirk warns from behind Dave, which instantly makes him feel like a meat shield. 

“He hasn’t slept for four days. He won’t be any help on the mission if he’s sleep deprived. I’m surprised he’s even standing.” Jake lets out a final shaky breath, but holds his ground to Jade, who is looking at Dirk through Dave. Dirk was busy typing away something on the tablet, desperately trying not to make eye contact with either set of green eyes looking him down with a mixture of worry and exasperation. Dave felt like he was in the middle of a battlefield, but one side both out numbered and out gunned the other. He was just the blockade that made it a little more fair, because with Dave there, Dirk could continue working without having to see the looks on their faces. 

Jade eventually looked to Dave after deliberating her next move. “Is this true?” she whispered. She knew he would hear it. It was probably the best idea to ask Dave, even if he couldn’t say what he wanted; asking Dirk would either result in him ignoring her or a gross amount of “I’m fine”s. Dave shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to lie to Jade; it was actually the opposite. He was telling her his whole truth. He genuinely didn’t know. Dave had seen Dirk maybe three times in the week before this little escapade. 

Jade bit her lip and balled her hands into fists. Dave felt like he was disappointing her. Is this what she was talking about when she mentioned working together? Is this how they were supposed to win the game?

“Dirk, I want you to go to sleep,” she started. Her voice was so shockingly calm that it felt like Dave Have been dunked in ice water. “Finish the programing, then back to the boat to sleep. No questions.” Dave turned to look to his brother, who was looking to the sand. He couldn’t tell if his partner was vexed or irritated, he just looked vaguely displeased. “Dave, help me finish the unloading. Jake, start the drone up. We should have the main monitor up in five,” Jade ordered seamlessly. Dave nodded, then waited for Dirk to dismiss him with a similar signal. Dirk stood still, hunched over in silence for a good thirty seconds, then nodded. Dave went back to the unloading. 

Dirk followed him onto the boat and sat in one of the seats to continue coding. There was a lifeless mass in a small plastic cube and every so often, it would pulse slightly. Every time Dave saw it, he stopped and watched to see if it would do it again. Once, Dave caught the corner of his brother’s lips curl up into a tiny smirk. 

The unloading took a lot longer than he thought it would. He didn’t remember bringing all of these things onto the boat, but then he remembered the pilot and the other men on the plane. They probably brought all of this on board. Jake and Jade took the things out of the crates and Dave got a real look at all of the things that both Jake’s grandmother and the army had been working on. There were monitors, laptops, a large satellite for the Internet, and a small kitchen. 

“A lot of this stuff is precooked, we just have to reheat it,” Jade takes a seat on a sand dune looking out onto the ocean with Dave, hugging her knees close. She had her hood on to keep her unruly locks from blowing around in the twilight breeze. The sun was no-where to be seen and the sky was an ombre of colors, surprisingly unbothered by clouds that usually accompany the east coast’s stereotypes. Dirk had gone to bed what seemed like hours ago. Dave was tempted to check on him and make sure he was sleeping because as calm as he looked during the altercation, he was scared for his big brother. Not sleeping for so many days could have been extremely dangerous for him. 

“The rest are MREs for the hikes. Jake’ll have the backpack.” Jade kept talking about more mundane things. The last time they had spoken, other than her giving curt orders about crate placement, was ordering Dirk to go the hell to sleep. Dave got out his phone and began typing. 

 _Are you okay?_ He asked. Jade read it, but she didn’t answer right away. She squinted and bit her lip. She sighed, then dropped her head, as if letting out the breath had released the muscles in her neck from active duty of holding her head up. Dave caught her hands mindlessly picking up sand and letting it leak through her fingers. 

“This was supposed to be an easy job,” she whimpered. Dave frowned, then began his reply. Her hand on his phone stopped him. “Hang on.” The glassy look in her pleading eyes made Dave swallow his written words and nod in understanding. 

“This was supposed to be an easy job, and we haven’t even started it yet. We just got here and already, I can tell you don’t like Jake, Dirk has something on his mind that won’t let him sleep, and we’re just sitting here on the beach when we should be looking for Rose.” She hid her face in the crook of her elbow. They sat in a silence that was not uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable either. It was Jade needing someone to talk to amongst the waves, trees, and sand. 

“Do you wonder why the forest is so dense here when it’s supposed to an island that resurfaces from the depths of the ocean?” she inquires. Dave wasn’t sure what this had to do with her problems, but he amused her. He shrugged. She chuckled, but it wasn’t because something was funny. It sounded cynical; not a word associated with Jade Harley. “I was wondering that. I thought, ‘This isn’t right. There should be rocks and sand and seaweed.’ But I’m sitting here and I’m realizing two things,” she holds up two fingers. Dave was intrigued by what was going through her head. 

“I realized that this island has been here for a long time in this run. Maybe, more than a few decades. The trees aren’t that tall,” she smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “And two, there aren’t any living things on this place that we’ve been able to see, but this place still feels alive. Can’t you feel it, Dave?” she takes his hand and looks him in the eyes, trying to ask something that Dave couldn’t understand. He took in a deep breath of the sea air and closed his eyes. The island did seem to be buzzing, but it wasn’t bugs. It was mostly silent. The waves crashed lightly on the shore, the wind rustled some leaves in the distance, and Jake was lazily typing something on one of the clunky laptops. It was an energy that, the more he focused on it, the more he could feel it prickling against the bits of his exposed skin. He opened his eyes and nodded, earning a tired smile from the corporal. 

“It’s scary. I don’t know if all of this power is what drew Rose here in the first place, or if it’s Rose,” she comments. She seemed off, but it was because she was breaking down. She napped before they had landed on the shores of the beach, but she looked like she deserved a thousand years of sleep. She looked too old for a nineteen year old girl. “If it’s Rose, I sure hope she’s feeling better. I don’t know what I’d do if we’d have to fight her.” The mention of violence toward his sister made Dave start trying to grab his phone and furiously type about how that wasn’t necessary and how we can’t hurt Rose because that might be what got them on the island in the first place, but the reassuring squeeze from Jade’s hand made him rethink possible actions. 

“I don’t want to hurt her, Dave. I just don’t want her to hurt us. More than anything, I don’t want there to have to be a choice.” Her voice crawled and it sounded like she was trying not to cry. 

Dave sat there, looking a her as she looked out to the waves. Her lip was quivering and her eyes shined with tears that wanted to pour out. Dave thought about all of the times when he wanted to do the same thing. He’d wanted for so many years to just sit in his bed and cry, but knew that it wasn’t going to help. Not because it was against some unspoken law that resulted in a beat down on the roof of the apartment complex with Bro, but because no-one would hear him. He could cry and cry, but it wouldn’t matter. No-one would hear him. Jade could cry all she wanted. But, she didn’t. She sat in the sand, holding the hand of her cool kid and trying her best to keep in all of the stress that had suddenly been sat in her lap after only about a day. Dave squeezed her hand in return. He wanted to tell her it was okay to cry. It would be useless, but he wanted to tell her just that. 

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” she continues. Dave was okay with this. He was obviously  God awful at talking to people, but if there was one thing he excelled at, it was listening. “I don’t know a lot, and that’s what makes me kinda angry. I spent a long time trying to learn the things that people had trouble with because I could. It was simple. Now, nothing is simple and there are things that I don’t know.” She gives a curt laugh. Her voice was shaky, but she didn’t stop. Dave bit his lip. “Am I scared? I  was usually pretty prepared when it came to Black Ops. If I gotta find a mutant, I’ll find ‘em. I have to find one, but this one is different. She’s my friend. She’s so immensely powerful and skilled with what she does. She’s not some terrified Unfamiliar who wants to shoot themselves in the temple because they accidentally pushed someone out a ground story window without touching them,” she rested her chin on her arms again. The wind picked up and Dave was stupefied at her words. The look in her eyes told him that all of these things had happened to her. She goes and finds people with powers and makes sure they’re locked up. Someone had picked up a gun and threatened to shoot themself in front of her. She looked out into the sea like it didn’t faze her. She looked apathetic to the scenario, but she was scared of the small possibility of going up against Rose; not her usual clientele. 

“It’s scary, Dave.”

He squeezes her hand and rubs small circles with his thumb. He knew what she meant. 

They sat in the sand for a while. Dave didn’t count the minutes or rely on the sun for the time. When it went down, he lifted his visor so he could see better. By the time Jake had called them over for food, the stars were out. Dave wanted to point out constellations, but he didn’t know any. So he sat in under the cover of the tent in silence. The sand was comfortable, so he wrapped a blanket around his shoulder and situated himself across the fire from Jade. Jake ate at the desk with the computers. Jade monitored him from a camping chair near the fire. A blanket was wrapped around her legs and her eyes would squint every so often to make out what Jake was typing into the little boxes that would appear. 

“You’re wrong,” she’d say right before a _Declined_ box blocked Jake’s advances. 

“Well then what is it, Miss Smarty Pants?”

“Forty-seven point null six,” she enunciated every number to an almost teasing degree. Dave didn’t feel the need to make fun of the way she said zero at all. 

“That’s what I put.”

“You somehow ended up with sixty-two point three seven, don’t lie to me English,” Jade’s smile grew from ear to ear as Jake’s head whipped around to face her, his face equal parts vexed and embarrassed. 

“You and your damn eyes, Jade I swear…” he mumbled, then continued to type. Jade giggled, then took a sip of her soup. The soup was made over the fire and tasted like something almost homemade. He was sure Jade’s friends at the army soup kitchen had a fun time making this with their  camouflage aprons and silver ladles. “Why do you even wear those glasses?” he finally looked back to her, relieving his eyes of the screen, as well as taking a sip of his soup. He’d taken off his scarf earlier and set it in a backpack, so his dirty white shirt was visible to all. 

Jade set her soup down on a little table that extended from the chair. She took off her glasses and inspected them. She huffed a bit of air on each lens and wiped it on her shirt. 

“Well, they’re fake, so it’s not like they hinder my vision any,” She lifts an eyebrow. Without her glasses, she looked more tired than normal. Dave gave her a small smile when her acid eyes bore into him without lenses in the way. He promptly looked away and sipped his soup in more silence. 

“Then why wear them?” 

“Because! They’re cute. Plus, I look weird without them.” She slipped them back on and looked at her cousin, cocking her head as if to say “Is that a good enough answer?”

“That’s rubbish. You look fine either way,” Jake rolled his eyes and turn back to the computer. Dave scrambled to put his soup down without it falling into the sand and get his phone out. The worst thing about communicating like this was that if he wasn’t fast enough, the moment for any of his comments usually passed. He was thankful for Jade’s moment of silence, allowing him to relay his message without it seeming out of place. 

 _I think you can wear whatever you want._ He watched her eyes quickly scan the screen, then a smile spread across her face. 

“Thanks, Cool Kid. That means a lot coming from you,” she winks, then looks content once again, sipping her soup in the newfound comfortable silence. 

“Jade,” Jake said, insistent and more focused than before. “Come look at this.” At his urging, Jade reluctantly removed the blanket from her legs and got up. She leaned over his chair and looked at the screen. Dave was inclined to get up as well, but the small space near the computers looked crowded, even with two people, so he sat and sipped his soup in peace. 

“So, the entire middle of the island has no trees?” Jade asks, befuddled. 

“Not exactly. There’s… something in the middle of the island where trees don’t grow. The jungle is pretty thick on this side. If we had docked on the other side, we would have been better off,” Jake grumbled. 

“We don’t know that. Rose could have collapsed in the jungle at any point in time,” Jade was thinking a head, but just hearing that made Dave’s heart skip a beat, and not in a good way. He was not fond of the thought of his friend laying unconscious in the middle of the forest on a sinking island. “Especially since this is the side facing the main land.”

“Alright, fine. But, there’s something about the middle. It looks like a tunnel of some sort,” Jake zooms into the picture, continuing to make it blurry from what Dave could see, stretching to look through the pair. 

“A cave?” Jade asks. Jake shrugs. 

“Probably.”

“Can we get a drone inside? The signal should be able to go through the walls for a while,” Jade starts, then begins mumbling to herself. 

“I don’t know how thick the walls are. We may only be able to get through the entrance, then we may be offline,” Jake’s stupid slang was gone when he was talking to Corporal Harley, rather than his cousin Jade. It was such a weird transition. Watching them was like watching two different people. 

When Dave and Dirk went on missions, they were closer than when they were at home. They had a slightly competitive vibe about them, and they worked together better than ever. They had a running gag where they’d score themselves based on literally no scale, and whoever had the least bullshitted points at the and of the night bought the McDonalds that they’d go get at around two or three in the morning. 

It felt like such a stark contrast to Jake and Jade. 

“I got it!” Jade exclaims. Dave raises an eyebrow. He felt like he was watching a spy movie. 

“What?”

“If we take the drone, drop off another transmitter at the entrance, then fly the drone in, that should work, right?” Jade seemed so sure of herself. Jake thought for a moment. 

“Do you have one on hand?”

“Probably. I’d have to tune it and we’d have to bring the drone back so it can charge and we can change the memory card.” She went to one of the crates and took out a smaller, locked container. She swiftly opened it, looked inside, then set it aside because it was clearly not what she was looking for. She continued this while Jake typed. Dave felt, not only like a member of an audience, but out of the loop as well. 

“Shouldn’t we also record on the computer in case the drone is damaged or we lose connection?” Jake asks her, his mouse hovering over a program. 

“Of course.”

“Alright. It’s up and running, the drone has an ETA of twenty minutes, and we’ll be recording in approximately an hour.”

“Current time?”

“Nineteen thirty-six and twenty-three seconds, and counting.” Jake looked to his watch. 

“Alright, I’m synced.” Jade pushed a button wrist and pulled out another box, looking satisfied with the contents. “I’m going to the other tent to find my tools. Get me a laptop ready so I can code the commands as soon as possible.”

“Right.”

Watching all of this go down made Dave happy he wasn’t really as into computers as his brother. He could write music and edit videos and things, and he was pretty good at finding his was around the world wide web, but using codes to tell electronic things what to do were beyond him. Most electronic things were beyond him. Jade left the tent with her case and Dave was left alone in the tent with Jake to sip his soup. As much as he didn’t want to, he snapped to get the other’s attention. 

“Hm?” he turned in his chair. Dave laid his head on his hands and closed his eyes and silently fake snored. He opened one eye, and for a second, Jake looked confused, then the lightbulb turned on. 

“Oh, you’re going to bed?” Dave nodded. “Do you want me to tell Jade?” Jake inferred. Dave nodded again. “Okay, night mate.”

Dave waved and threw his soup container into the fire. He walked back to the boat. He couldn’t help but want to keep his eye open when he was below deck and in the cot across from his brother. It was early in the night, and he had already taken a nap on the way to the island. He was awake, but he wasn’t at all alert. He didn’t know if he felt exhausted or not. He looked up at the dark ceiling. He hadn’t even taken off most of his suit. It kept him from being too cold. He thought about checking his phone, but who would have messaged him? He could watch a video, but what would he watch? 

“Did Jade send you down here too?” a groggy voice startled Dave from his thoughts. Dirk slowly sat up and held his head, almost like he had a headache. Dave pushed a button next to the cot, turning on a dim overhead light. He shook his head. “Hm,”

 _What are you doing up?_ Dave wondered. Dirk rolled his eyes, easy to see now that he didn’t have his shades or visor. 

“I _was_ asleep. I just woke up.”

_It’s only been a couple of hours._

“Really? Feels like a while. I couldn’t fall asleep for a bit, on account of it being such a shitty bed,” Dirk jested. Or maybe he wasn’t joking. 

_Are you going back to sleep?_

“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I’ll go help Jade.”

 _It’s only Jake up there right now,_ Dave warned him. His playful attitude was gone faster than a flash step. 

“Then back to sleep it is.”

 _How can you run on so little sleep?_ Dave asked quickly, before his brother was able to turn his back on him. Dirk raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. 

“Don’t know. It’s something that comes with my physiology, I think.”

 _Or maybe your psychology,_ Dave joked. He made sure to smirk to let Dirk know that he was just messing around, but the frown on his face told him it wasn’t funny. 

 _What happened with you and Jake?_ Dave had to ask about to ask about it while he had his brother alone. Dirk seemed to shrink at the mention of him. When he didn’t answer, Dave snapped urgently. He still didn’t answer. It wasn’t unlike him, but at the same time, it was. Dave almost felt bad for asking, until Dirk looked up from the floor of the slightly rocking boat. 

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like it has anything to do with the mission.” He said it so softly, Dave would have had an awful time hearing it. He snaps again. 

 _It matters to me,_ he signs it slowly. Dirk narrowed his eyes. 

“Well, you know, that’s hunky-dory and all, but it’s irrelevant. Good night.”

Dave sighs. Dirk’s quick turn and thud onto the cot told Dave he was done for the night. He dropped it, and pulled out his phone. 

 

 **—turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] began pestering gardenGnostic [** **GG** **] at 19:51--**

 **TG: make sure you get some sleep** **.**

 **—turntechGodhead [** **TG** **] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [** **GG** **] at 19:51--**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyy, thanks for reading. Remember to R&R and tell me if there are any mistakes, I'll be sure to fix them as soon as possible! thanks so much! Love y'all.
> 
> EDIT: I've been fixing mistakes around the entire story as time goes on. Like I said above, feel free to comment on any mistakes and I'll be sure to either clear something up or fix it right away. Don't worry about offending me, comments and criticism are welcome at any point in time!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey thanks for reading guys I'm really excited for this! R&R pretty please and PLEASE support the original stuff! It's so amazing! The art and the writing is so great! Thank you so much!!
> 
> EDIT: I've been fixing mistakes around the entire story as time goes on. Like I said above, feel free to comment on any mistakes and I'll be sure to either clear something up or fix it right away. Don't worry about offending me, comments and criticism are welcome at any point in time!


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